The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (366 page)

 
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(1844–79).
Bernadette Soubirous was born into a humble family at
Lourdes
, where, at the Massabielle Rock, she received eighteen apparitions of the Virgin
Mary
between 11 Feb. and 16 July 1858. She was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933. The importance of Lourdes as a place of pilgrimage, and its association with healing, has made her among the most popular modern
saints
.

 
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(1090–1153).
Christian monastic reformer and mystical writer. He joined the
Cistercian
monastery at Citeaux in
c.
1111, and established at Clairvaux in 1115 a daughter house in which he insisted on rigorous observance and discipline. He combined an emphasis on the love and mercy of God with vehement controversy on this earth. He was officially charged with preaching the Second
Crusade
. He was canonized in 1174 and proclaimed
Doctor of the Church
in 1830. Feast day, 20 Aug.
Bernard's understanding of spiritual life is
affective
, dominated by the way in which the human freedom to consent is met by God's
grace
so that the consequence of love flows forth.

 
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(
c.
1450–
c.
1516).
Italian Jewish commentator on the
Mishnah
. His commentary on the Mishnah became the standard work, comparable to
Rashi's
commentary on the
Talmud
and drawing heavily on it. His acronym is Ra'av (Rabbenu Ovadyah mi-Bartenura).

 
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(2nd cent. CE).
Jewish woman scholar of the
Talmud
. The wife of R.
Meir
, she was the only woman in Talmudic literature whose
halakhic
opinions were respected. In the so-called Beruryah Incident, R. Meir tested her integrity by sending to her a student to seduce her into adultery: after submitting, she committed suicide.

 
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Besant, A.
:

see
THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
.

 
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