The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (501 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Capuchins
.
Reformed branch of the Christian
Franciscan
order. In 1525, Matteo da Bascio (1495–1552) sought to return to the greater simplicity of the early Franciscans. He wore the pointed cowl or hood (
capuce
, hence the name) of St Francis, and he and his companions devoted themselves to care of plague victims.
Cardinal
.
A member of the ‘Sacred College’ of priests selected by the pope to assist him in governing the
Roman Catholic Church
. In 1994 there were 167 cardinals in all. On the death of a pope they meet in secret session to elect his successor; since 1971 those over the age of 80 may not vote.
Cardinal directions
.
The division of space, in Hindu cosmology, into the 4 directions, NSEW, of great importance in sacrifice, orientation of towns and buildings, etc. With the
triloka
(see
LOKA
), they make up ‘all this’, i.e. the totality of space.
Cardinal virtues
(Lat., cardo, ‘hinge’). Four particular virtues in Christianity, on which all others are said to depend: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance. They were extended by the
Scholastics
to seven, by adding the three ‘theological virtues’ of faith, hope, and charity.
Cargo cults
.
The popular name for
millennial
movements in Melanesia. During the last 100 years, hundreds of these have come into being from Fiji to Irian Jaya, and also in other tribal cultures. Local myths of a golden age encourage
prophets
to announce the imminent return of
culture
heroes or ancestors bringing spiritual or material ‘cargo’ of the kind discovered through Western contacts. This will inaugurate a new era of human fulfilment and equality with whites. Some movements are religious in form, as with
Manseren
cults, the
Vailala Madness
, and
Jon Frum
. Others also attempt realistic development, as with
Paliau
and
Yali
, and the Peli and Pitenamu Societies.
Cariy
-pitaka
(part of Buddhist P
li canon)
:

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