The word bull is derived from the Latin bulla, "a bubble of water," and then "a round ball of any kind." In the middle ages it came to signify the capsule of the seal appended to letters from emperors or popes, next it was used for the seal itself, and lastly for the document to which the seal was appended. Its use is now commonly restricted to papal documents issued with certain indispensable formalities.

The Douay Bible was a translation made by the professors connected with the College of Douay, founded in 1568 by Dr. William Allen for the education of English boys designed for the Roman Catholic priesthood. These students were to be sent into England as itinerant preachers, with the view of creating a reactionary feeling and upsetting the Reformed Church. Dr. Allen himself worked on the translation.

The title of Beelzebub was given to the form of Baal worshipped by the Philistines at Ekron. As the heathen deities were all regarded as demons by the Jews, the name Beelzebub became, in course of time, commonly applied to the chief of evil spirits, and in this sense it is employed in the Gospels. The more correct reading of the word is Beelzebul, variously explained as "lord of the dwelling," "lord of the dunghill."

The Graal or "The Holy Graal" was a miraculous chalice made of a single emerald, which was stated to possess the power of preserving chastity and prolonging life. It is said to have been the cup from which Christ drank at the last supper, and in which Joseph of Arimathea caught the last drops of blood as Christ was taken down from the cross. In 1170 Chretien of Troyes sang of the search by knights for this miraculous cup, which was a very favorite subject in the middle ages.

The Veda is the sacred canon of the Brahmins. It is divided into four collections: (1) the Rig-veda, or love of praise (hymns); (2) the Sama-veda, or love of tunes (chants); (3) the Yajur-veda, or love of prayer, and (4) the Atharva-veda, or love of the Atharvans. Each collection is divided into three parts: (1) The sacred texts (mantra); (2) the ritual (Brahmana); and (3) the philosophical portion (Upanishads). The hymns of the Rig-veda are supposed to have been collected about 1000 b. c.

The Targums are paraphrastic translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic, the only tongue generally known to the Jews in post-exilic times. No single Targum covers the whole of the Old Testament, but in one and another there are versions of all the books, except Ezra and Nehemiah. The Targums, long oral, were committed to writing in Christian times. The Onkelos Targum and the Targum ascribed to Jonathan ben Uzzill, the principal of the eighty disciples of Hillel, are the most famous.

Among the great monastic orders Benedictines is the general name given to the followers of St. Benedict (480-543), whose rule bound the monk to permanent abode in the monastery, chastity, renunciation of private property, daily and public solemnization of the divine office, a life of frugality and labor, and filial obedience to the abbot. The order has produced many literary works, but has taken little interest in politics. Though at one time very powerful, the membership today does not exceed eight hundred.

The Tabernacle was the portable tent in which the Ark of the Covenant was conveyed, and as such the sanctuary of Israel. It seems to have been superseded by a more permanent building at Shiloh before David's time. In Roman Catholic churches the name is given to the receptacle in which the consecrated elements of the Eucharist are retained. It is commonly a small structure of marble, metal or wood, placed over the high altar and appropriated exclusively to the reservation of the Eucharist, no other object whatever being allowed to be kept in it.

The word cabbala, which literally means "tradition," in itself might be used for any Jewish doctrine not explicitly contained in the Hebrew Bible since the text assumed its present form. The moral and ritual precepts of the Talmud are all ascribed to a tradition that can be traced step by step. But in its technical sense, the cabbala signifies a secret system of theology, metaphysics and magic prevalent among the Jews. The cabbalists taught a pantheistic doctrine, which came to them from the later and degenerate philosophies of Greece.

The Shakers are a religious sect, the official title of which is "The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing." They are an offshoot of the Quakers founded by Ann Lee, of Manchester, England, who with eight of her disciples came to America in 1774. Here the Shakers have founded eighteen societies, distributed over seven States. They practise celibacy and community of goods, and are firm believers in the doctrine of spiritualism. The wild, violent motions, from which they obtained their name, have given place to a regular dance to the singing of a hymn.

A synagogue is a Jewish place of worship. The origin of this institution is probably to be traced to the period of the Babylonian captivity, although tradition finds it in the patriarchal times. When, through Ezra's instrumentality, the ancient order of things was restored in Judea, synagogues were established in all the towns for the benefit of those who could not take part oftener than three times a year in the worship of the temple at Jerusalem, and a special ritual of readings and prayers was instituted. From the time of the Maccabees we find them even in all the villages.

Hospitallers, in the Roman Catholic Church, are charitable brotherhoods, founded for the care of the poor and of the sick in hospitals. They follow for the most part the rule of St. Augustine, and add to the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, that of self-dedication to the particular work of their order. The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem and the Teutonic Knights were both originally hospitallers. The Knights Hospitallers of the Holy Spirit were founded at Montpellier in 1198 by Guy of Montpellier, and the hospitallers of Our Lady of Christian Charity at Paris in the end of the thirteenth century by Guy de Joinville. And numerous similar orders have been established since then.