Where does the name 'Christ' come from?

In ancient times, oil was often used to annoint new kings. A king was therefore known as an "annointed one."

In Hebrew, "annointed one" is messiah. In time, the great king that was to save the Jews came to be known as The Messiah.

In the Greek, this translates as o Christos, the Christ.

So the apostles went out and preached about the Christ, the Messiah, the annointed one.

However, some people began to confuse the greek word Christos with a similar greek word, Chrestos (which meant only "good man").

Because of this, it seems that preachers of the Gospel began to drop the "the" and use simply "Christ," more like a name. This helped listeners to realize that it was not simply a description about some hypothetical good man, but was an actual name for an actual man.

Hence, Jesus the Christ became simply Jesus Christ. (It is also sometimes written as Christ Jesus - which also makes sense.)

Another factor that played into this usage over time was that there is not an equivalent "the" in Latin. So when all of the scripture was translated to Latin and then to other languages, Jesus Christ - without the "the" - was found more often.

And that's how Jesus of Nazareth, the annointed one, the messiah came to be known, at least namely, as Jesus Christ.

What is an alb?

An alb is one of the basic liturgical vestments that a Catholic priest wears. It is the large plain garment made of white linen that is worn over their clothes or cassock and under other special vestments. Usually, it is worn with a belt, or cincture, around the waist.

Adopted from the long linen tunics that the ancient Romans wore, it is said to be the oldest liturgical vestment used by the early Christians. It was primarily used in the celebration of the Eucharist, but, over time, has become a common vestment used in all Christian celebrations by clergy and laypersons alike - especially priests, deacons, and alter servers.

What is the Holy See?

"Where is this Holy Sea, that I might swim in it?"

Sounds like fun. However, it's not that kind of sea.

"Holy See" actually comes from the Latin, Sancta Sedes, which also means Holy Chair.

It is short for "Holy Apostolic See."

Basically, it is referring to the supreme "seat" of holy apostolic authority: the bishop of Rome, the Pope.

And it's not talking about his actual physical seat, or chair, that he sits down on and has a back and four legs. It's referring to his authoritative position, the office of Bishop of Rome.

In the past, the Holy See also referred to other episcopal sees (i.e. other Catholic bishops and their office). So generally speaking, the Holy See could also refer to the office of a bishop, all of the bishops together, or any other reference to apostolic authority.

But, specifically and most commonly, the term is understood to refer to the office of the Pope, "together with the various ecclesiastical authorities who constitute the central administration" (www.newadvent.org), also known as the "Vatican".

Did the Catholic Church chain Bibles up?

You bet they did!

The real question is why did they do it?

Many today look back and view this chaining of the Bible as a bad thing. It usually accompanies accusations that the Catholic Church was keeping the Bible away from the people. That they didn't want people to read it for themselves.

Ironically, it was actually the exact opposite.

These Bibles were chained up in public, often out in front of the Church. It would be a pretty silly thing to chain up a bible and leave it out in front of the Church if they didn't want anyone to read it. Wouldn't you think? It seems that locking it away somewhere in a room or a box would work much better.

When we go to the grocery store checkout stand and pay for our groceries, there is usually a little pen there for everyone to use to write with. Often times this pen is chained to the checkout stand.

Is that because they don't want anyone to use it? Or is that because they want it to be available for everyone to use it?

It was precisely because they wanted everyone to have access to the Bible that they left it out where everyone could read it! But precisely because they wanted it to still be around for everyone to read, they had to chain it to something to keep it from walking off.

Keep in mind, this is back before the printing press. Books, particularly the Bible, were very expensive because they were all hand copied. They could cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in today's currency.

Nobody in their right mind would leave something that expensive just sitting around for anyone to take. So the Church did what it could to make it available - and keep it available.