benedict

< /ˈrɒs ɪ tər/, 1884–1936, U.S. biochemist.

a male given name: from a Latin word meaning “blessed.”

noun

1. died a.d. 579, pope 575–79.

noun

1. Saint,died a.d. 685, pope 684–85.

noun

1. died a.d. 858, pope 855–58.

noun

1. died a.d. 903, pope 900–03.

noun

1. died a.d. 966, pope 964.

noun

1. died a.d. 974, pope 973–74.

noun

1. died a.d. 983, pope 974–83.

noun

1. died 1024, pope 1012–24.

noun

1. died 1056?, pope 1032–44; 1045; 1047–48.

noun

1. Niccolò Boccasini, 1240–1304, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 1303–04.

noun

1. Jacques Fournier, died 1342, French ecclesiastic: pope 1334–42.

noun

1. Pietro Francesco Orsini, 1649–1730, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 1724–30.

noun

1. Prospero Lambertini, 1675–1758, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 1740–58; scholar and patron of the arts.

noun

1. Giacomo della Chiesa, 1854–1922, Italian ecclesiastic: pope 1914–22.

noun

1. Saint . ?480–?547 ad, Italian monk: founded the Benedictine order at Monte Cassino in Italy in about 540 ad . His Regula Monachorum became the basis of the rule of all Western Christian monastic orders. Feast day: July 11 or March 14

noun

1. original name Giacomo della Chiesa . 1854–1922, pope (1914–22); noted for his repeated attempts to end World War I and for his organization of war relief

n.

“newly married man” (especially one who had seemed a confirmed bachelor), 1821, from the character Benedick in “Much Ado About Nothing” (1599). The name is from Late Latin Benedictus, literally “blessed,” from Latin benedicte “bless (you)” (see benediction). This also produced the proper name Bennet; hence also benet (late 14c.), the third of the four lesser orders of the Roman Catholic Church, one of whose functions was to exorcize spirits.