The North American video game crash of 1983 was a major event in the history of video games where the North American video game industry had crashed. Many makers of home computers and video game consoles went bankrupt. Many business analysts thought that the video game industry would not last, and the crash lasted for several years. However, the Japanese company Nintendo introduced the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, which became very popular in 1987 and ended the crash.

There were several reasons for the crash, but the main reason was that companies were making many consoles and hundreds of games, most which were low quality. The video game version of ET: The Extra Terrestrial is often blamed for the crash.

Background
Through the 1970s, many companies, most notably Coleco and Atari released tons of systems. The video game industry became a big thing, and it seemed like video games were the next cool thing. However, soon, companies tried to take advantage. For example, if you mailed to a dog food company, they'd send you a video game. The market was flooded, but the final straw was with the Atari port of Pac-Man and ET: The Extra Terrestrial. They were both bad quality games, and the Pac-Man port itself was just a prototype. Consumers lost confidence in video games, and Atari began to lose money. Most companies left the market, as most experts claimed the market was dead, and nothing more than a fad. The crash was notable for being more bad for the companies, as consumers themselves were happy as most games were much cheaper. The crash would last until 1985, when Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System, which used a VCR look and avoided common terms that video games were typically using, as the packaging of the system never even mentioned the phrase "video game" once. Cartridges were instead called "Game Paks" and the games showed in-game sprites on the covers, to show the arcade-like graphics. This was important, as arcades were not effected by the crash, and became popular again because of the crash.

1983 in North America
American video game companies

North American video game crash of 1983


Elmer Truesdell Merrill (1860 – 20 April 1936) was an American Latin scholar, born at Millville, Massachusetts. Merrill graduated from Wesleyan University in 1881. He is primarily remembered for his student edition of the Roman poet Catullus and for his studies on the text and tradition of the Letters of Pliny the Younger, culminating in his 1914 Teubner edition, which constituted an important basis for the works of later scholars.

Merrill taught at the Massachusetts State Normal School, Westfield, Massachusetts (1882–83), at Wesleyan University (1883–86), at University of Southern California (1887–88), again at Wesleyan (1888–1905) as professor of Latin language and literature, and at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut (1905–08). In 1908 he became professor of Latin at the University of Chicago, where he taught until his retirement in 1925.

In 1898–99, he was professor, in 1899–1900, acting chairman, in 1900–01, chairman of the work of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome. After 1906 he was associate editor of Classical Philology, and in 1906–07 he served as president of the American Philological Association. He was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1895 and received an LL.D from the University of St. Andrews in 1911.

In 1923, the Bibliotheca Teubneriana published Merrill's scholarly edition of Catullus. His effort was not well received by fellow Classicists, most notably the poet and scholar A. E. Housman, who offered a particularly scathing review. Merrill's student edition of Catullus remained a standard in American classrooms for much of the twentieth century.

Works
 Poems of Catullus (1893)
 Fragments of Roman Satire (1897)
 Selected Letters of the Younger Pliny (1903)
 C. Plini Caecili Secundi Epistularum Libri Novem (Teubner, 1914)
 Catulli Veronesis liber (Teubner, 1923)
 Essays in Early Christian History (1924)

References

External links

1860 births
1936 deaths
American Episcopalians
American philologists
People from Worcester County, Massachusetts
University of Chicago faculty
University of Southern California faculty
Wesleyan University alumni

Elmer Truesdell Merrill


History

Formed in 1965 when the Canadian Armed Forces amalgamated, the Combat Service Support units were formed into Service Battalions.  The 14 Service Battalion was initially formed with the following elements:

 Transport Company: 150 Company, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps;
 Maintenance Company: A Squadron, 9 Technical Regiment, Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers;
 Supply Company: 6 Ordnance Company, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps;
 Medical Section: 21 Medical Company, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps;
 Military Police: 14 Provost Company, Canadian Provost Corps.

While initially titled Calgary Service Battalion, in 1975 it assumed the name of 14 (Calgary) Service Battalion.  The Battalion would serve in this role until its amalgamation with 15 (Edmonton) Service Battalion and Area Support Unit Calgary to form 41 Service Battalion in 2010.

Commanding Officers

 1965-1968: LCol K. Cashman, CD;
 1968-1970: LCol L. Thompson, CD;
 1970-1972: LCol C.A. Haddock, CD;
 1972-1973: LCol T.W. MacDonald, CD;
 1973-1976: LCol M.A. O'Sullivan, KStJ, CD;
 1976-1980: LCol J.R. Davidson, CD;
 1980-1982: LCol K.A. Munn, CD;
 1982-1986: LCol J.R. Anderson, CD:
 1986-1990: LCol A.P. Fahey, CD;
 1990-1993: LCol H. Berard, CD;
 1993-1996: LCol D.D. Stinson, CD;
 1996-1998: LCol T. Stirling, CD;
 1998-1999: Maj R.S. Sinclair;
 1999-2001: LCol J.D. Gludo, CD;
 2001-2003: LCol J.J Martin, CD;
 2003-2005: LCol R.C. Boehli, CD;
 2005-2008: LCol B. Doherty, CD;
 2008-2010: LCol G. Haight, CD*.

2010 Realignment

 LCol G. Haight took command of the newly amalgamated 41 Service Battalion in 2010.

References

Army logistics units and formations of Canada
1965 establishments in Alberta
2010 disestablishments in Alberta

14 (Calgary) Service Battalion


Louis IV the Young (1173 – 7 October 1226), count of Chiny from 1189 to 1226, son of Louis III, count of Chiny, and Sophie.  Louis was the last of the first dynasty of counts of Chiny. Having no son, he prepared his eldest daughter Jeanne as his successor. Louis marked his reign by issuing the first postage stamp in the county.

He succeeded as count in 1189 when his father died on the Third Crusade, but was under the supervision of his mother and uncle Thierry, Lord of Mellier, because of his young age. He likely participated in the Albigensian Crusade, where he died in Cahors.

He married Matilda of Avesnes, widow of Nicolas IV, Lord of Rumigny, and daughter of James, Lord of Avesnes and Conde, and Adele, Lady of Guise. They had three children:
 	Jeanne, Countess of Chiny, married to Arnold IV, Count of Looz
 	Agnes, Lady of Givet and Abemont
 	Isabelle, married to Otto, Lord of Trazegnies.

Isabelle was referred to as Madame de Florenville during the Tournament of Chauvency in 1285, hosted by Louis' grandson Louis V, successor Count of Chiny,

Upon Louis' death, his daughter Jeanne became Countess of Chiny until her marriage to Arnold IV, when he became the first Count of Chiny of the second dynasty as Arnold II.

Louis IV was also a direct paternal descendant of Charlemagne.

Sources
 Settipani, Christian, La Préhistoire des Capétiens (Nouvelle histoire généalogique de l'auguste maison de France, vol. 1), Villeneuve d'Ascq, éd. Patrick van Kerrebrouck, 1993, 545 pg.
 Arlette Laret-Kayser, Entre Bar et Luxembourg : Le Comté de Chiny des Origines à 1300, Bruxelles (éditions du Crédit Communal, Collection Histoire, série in-8°, n° 72), 1986

References

People from Chiny
1173 births
1226 deaths
Counts of Chiny

Louis IV, Count of Chiny


The Norfolk Grange Hall, previously known as First Baptist Church, is a historic Grange hall and former Baptist church at 28 Rockwood Road in Norfolk, Massachusetts.  Built in 1863, it is one of the town's few surviving 19th-century civic buildings. Since 1921 it has been owned by the Norfolk Grange # 135 and used as its meeting hall.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Description and history
The Norfolk Grange Hall is set on the east side of Rockwood Road (Massachusetts Route 115), a short way north of Norfolk's village center.  It is a single-story wood-frame structure, with a front-facing gable roof, clapboard siding, and a granite foundation.  The center section of the front (west-facing) facade projects slightly, and supports a two-stage tower topped by a flared roof.  The building's corners are quoined, and the front gable is fully pedimented, with modillions at the rake and eave edges.  Entrances are found to either side of the center projecting section, topped by half-round transom windows.

The Baptists of Norfolk were organized about 1800, when the area was known as North Wrentham (it was incorporated as Norfolk in 1870).  They first met at a parish in Medfield, and then in the old congregational meeting house when that was vacated by its congregation in 1842.  In 1861, with that building requiring extensive repairs, the congregation opted to build a new edifice, resulting in the construction of this building the following year.  It served that congregation, with minimal alteration, until 1921, when its declining enrollment prompted the sale of the building to the local Grange chapter.

The Grange chapter, organized in 1886, and took a significant place in the then-agricultural community that it has maintained to this day.  It updated the building, adding electricity and plumbing, and has over the years opened it to all manner of civic and social functions.  From 1922, when the town hall burned down, until 1949, town meetings and other town business was conducted here.  The public library was housed in space at its rear from 1922 to 1956.  Of the town's 19th-century public buildings, only the Federated Church is older (built in 1832).

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Norfolk County, Massachusetts

References

External links
 Norfolk Grange # 135 website

Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1863
Grange organizations and buildings in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Grange buildings on the National Register of Historic Places
Georgian architecture in Massachusetts
Italianate architecture in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts

Norfolk Grange Hall


The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is the farthest east of all 85 federal subjects of Russia. It is located in the Asian part of Russia. It is grouped and governed as part of the Far Eastern District. The Far Eastern District contains ten other federal subjects too. Chukotka also shares an international sea border with Alaska of the United States.

History
In ancient times, the present area of Chukotka was joined with North America by a land bridge known as Beringia. It was believed that humans first migrated to the Americas using this route. Later, the area was home to the Chukchi people and other natives. Some of these natives are related to the Inuit. By the 17th century, the Russians first arrive to gain control of the natives. At first, not much attention was given to the remote land of Chukotka. But its natural resources and the ability to use the area to attack land further away was soon discovered. The Russians then made multiple attempts to bring the natives under their control by force. However, these attempts failed. The Russians finally made peace with the Chukchis in 1778. Through the 19th and 20th centuries, other foreign powers also attempted to claim the land and resources in the region. They were instead driven away by the Russians. The Russians were increasingly worried about their presence. During the Soviet Union, the natives were brought under state's control and made to resettle. Multiple gulags were also built in the area. Tin and much later gold was mined from the area after the start of World War II. The tin and gold were used to supply the war efforts. In 1991, at the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chukotka declared its separation to become a subject of Russia. It continues to remain as an autonomous okrug till today.

Geography
Chukotka is the eastern most point of Russia and mainland Asia. It is separated from Alaska, United States, by the Bering Strait and the International Date Line. Chukotka is found in the north-eastern part of Siberia. Because of this it has a polar tundra climate, which have long, cold winters, and short, mild summers. There is not a lot of rainfall in the area because of the climate. The ground is mostly frozen as well. The landscape is mostly barren, with limited animals and plants. The area however is rich in minerals. The Wrangel Island found north of Chukotka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Demographics

Chukotka's population has been decreasing since the end of the Soviet Union according to data. About 65% of the population live in cities and towns. Ethnic Chukchis compose of roughly a third of the population. Russians make up about half the population. People of other local ethnicity make up the rest of the population. Most Chukchis either practice Shamanism, which is a belief that worships spirits and nature, or Orthodox Christianity. Russian is taught and used commonly in Chukotka. The Chukchi language usage is decreasing and is used mostly at home. There are currently attempts to make it popular again.

Economy
The economy of Chukotka is mostly reliant on mining of minerals, like coal, gold, natural gas and oil. Most of Chukotka's population take jobs under big companies that are involve in mining. The rest of the rural population continue to practice reindeer herding, whale hunting, and fishing. The growing of crops and rearing of animals are mostly not possible because of the climate. Besides that, sea trade via the Northern Sea Route is expected to improve the economy. This sea route is expected to become ready in the future.

Politics
The Governor of Chukotka is the leader of the okrug. The Governor is chosen by public vote every five years. The Duma of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, is the okrug's parliament. The Duma members of parliament are chosen similarly by the public every five years. There are now 15 members of parliament. The majority of these lawmakers in the Duma are currently from the United Russia party. The United Russia part is the ruling party of Russia. Roman Abramovich, a former governor of Chukotka, is famous for being the owner of Chelsea Football Club. He has donated more than US$2.5 billion to build schools, hospitals and buildings in Chukotka.

Transportation
Chukotka does not have railroads or many roads, making travel difficult. Most long-distance travel is by sea or air. The okrug has several airports, such as the Ugolny Airport. However, there are no international flights. Special permits are needed to enter Chukotka because the area is along an international border.

References

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug


Grand Central Murder is a comedy/mystery film released in 1942. It was based on Sue MacVeigh's 1939 novel of the same name, and stars Van Heflin as a private investigator who is one of the suspects in a murder on a private train car in Grand Central Terminal.  The film was directed by S. Sylvan Simon.

Plot
Convicted murderer "Turk" (Stephen McNally) escapes from police custody, crashing through a washroom window as a train pulls into Grand Central Terminal in New York. He telephones his former girlfriend, Broadway star Mida King (Patricia Dane), and threatens to kill her. She leaves her show between acts and hides in a private train car on a siding at the terminal, planning to leave town and marry her rich, high society fiance, David V. Henderson (Mark Daniels). However, her body is found by David and his ex-fiancee, Connie Furness (Cecilia Parker).

Police Inspector Gunther (Sam Levene) is called in to solve the crime. The  doctor at the scene is unable to determine the cause of death. Turk is recaptured, and wisecracking private detective "Rocky" Custer (Van Heflin), whom Turk had hired, is also brought in, as he had helped his client evade the police. Other suspects are rounded up: Mida's greedy phony psychic stepfather Ramon (Roman Bohnen); her ex-husband Paul Rinehart (George Lynn), who works at the terminal; and her producer Frankie Ciro (Tom Conway).  Also mixed in are Mida's maid, ex-burlesque singer Pearl Delroy (Connie Gilchrist) and her daughter "Baby" (Betty Wells), Mida's understudy. Then Roger Furness (Samuel S. Hinds), Connie's magnate father and chairman of the board of the railroad, shows up to guard his daughter's interests. Gunther gets each to tell what they know, with the unwelcome assistance of Rocky.

It turns out that the victim was a calculating gold digger. Like the inspiration of her stage name, King Midas, everything (or rather every man) she touched, turned to gold for her purse. She had used each successive boyfriend as a stepping stone, then discarded each in turn, in her climb up the social ladder. Landing millionaire David was to have been her crowning achievement, the fulfillment of her lifelong ambition. Frankie finds her, but she calms his anger at the prospect of losing the star of his expensive production by telling him that she plans to get a rich divorce settlement in about six months, more than enough to finance an even more lavish show. This conversation is overheard by David, giving him a motive. During the investigation, Ramon dies, apparently of a weak heart.

Rocky is able to solve the case and show that Ramon too had been murdered. The killer electrocuted Mida while she was in the shower of the locked railway car by connecting the plumbing to the electrified third rail. When he went to return the wiring to the storage locker, he was spotted by Ramon. The murderer paid Ramon off, but later got rid of the loose end with poison. Rocky identifies the man as Roger Furness, who breaks away and jumps aboard a departing train, but falls to his own death on the third rail.

Cast

Sam Levene as Inspector Gunther
Mark Daniels as David V. Henderson
Stephen McNally as "Turk"
Betty Wells as "Baby" Delroy
George Lynn as Paul Rinehart
Roman Bohnen as Ramon
Millard Mitchell as Detective Arthur Doolin

Cast notes
Stephen McNally made his film debut in Grand Central Murder under the name "Horace McNally".
Sam Levene, who was the original "Nathan Detroit" in Guys and Dolls on Broadway, often portrayed police investigators who played second-fiddle to private investigators.  He performed that function several times in the Thin Man series.

Production
Grand Central Murder is a sequel of sorts to Kid Glove Killer, in which Van Heflin played a similar part. Donna Reed and Reginald Owen were originally cast in the film, but were replaced.  The film was in production at MGM's studios in Culver City, California from 19 February to 13 March 1942.

Reception
The film premiered in New York City on 23 May of that year. According to MGM records it earned $297,000 in the US and Canada and $220,000 elsewhere, making the studio a profit of $86,000.

Notes

External links

1942 films
1940s crime comedy films
1940s comedy mystery films
American crime comedy films
American black-and-white films
American comedy mystery films
Films based on American novels
Films directed by S. Sylvan Simon
Film noir
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Rail transport films
Films produced by B. F. Zeidman
1942 comedy films
1940s English-language films
1940s American films

Grand Central Murder


Pio of Pietrelcina (born Francesco Forgione; 25 May 188723 September 1968), widely known as , was an Italian Capuchin friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, celebrated on 23 September.

Pio joined the Capuchins at fifteen and spent most of his religious life in the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo. He was marked by stigmata in 1918, leading to several investigations by the Holy See. Despite temporary sanctions imposed by the Vatican, his reputation kept increasing during his life, attracting many followers to San Giovanni Rotondo. He was the founder of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, a hospital built near the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo.

After his death, his devotion continued to spread among believers all over the world. He was beatified on 2 May 1999 and canonized on 16 June 2002 by Pope John Paul II. His relics are exposed in the sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, next to the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo, now a major pilgrimage site.

Life

Early life
Francesco Forgione was born on 25 May 1887 to Grazio Mario Forgione (1860–1946) and Maria Giuseppa Di Nunzio (1859–1929), in Pietrelcina, a town in the province of Benevento, in the Southern Italian region of Campania. His parents were peasant farmers. He was baptized in the nearby Santa Anna Chapel, which stands upon the walls of a castle. He later served as an altar boy in this same chapel. He had an older brother, Michele, and three younger sisters, Felicita, Pellegrina, and Grazia (who was later to become a Bridgettine nun). His parents had two other children who died in infancy. When he was baptized, he was given the name Francesco. He stated that by the time he was five years old, he had already made the decision to dedicate his entire life to God. He worked on the land up to the age of 10, looking after the small flock of sheep the family owned.

Pietrelcina was a town where feast days of saints were celebrated throughout the year, and the Forgione family was deeply religious. They attended Mass daily, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Although Francesco's parents and grandparents were illiterate, they narrated Bible stories to their children.

According to the diary of Father Agostino da San Marco (who was later his spiritual director in San Marco in Lamis) the young Francesco was afflicted with a number of illnesses. At six he suffered from severe gastroenteritis. At ten he caught typhoid fever.

As a youth, Francesco reported that he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies. In 1897, after he had completed three years at the public school, Francesco was said to have been drawn to the life of a friar after listening to a young Capuchin who was in the countryside seeking donations. When Francesco expressed his desire to his parents, they made a trip to Morcone, a community  north of Pietrelcina, to find out if their son was eligible to enter the Order. The friars there informed them that they were interested in accepting Francesco into their community, but he needed to be better educated.

Francesco's father went to the United States in search of work to pay for private tutoring for his son, to meet the academic requirements to enter the Capuchin Order. It was in this period that Francesco received the sacrament of Confirmation on 27 September 1899. He underwent private tutoring and passed the stipulated academic requirements. On 6 January 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin friars at Morcone. On 22 January, he took the Franciscan habit and the name of Fra (Friar) Pio, in honor of Pope Pius I, whose relic is preserved in the Santa Anna Chapel in Pietrelcina. He took the simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Priesthood

Commencing his seven-year study for the priesthood, Pio traveled to the friary of Saint Francis of Assisi in Umbria. At 17, he fell ill, complaining of loss of appetite, insomnia, exhaustion, fainting spells, and migraines. He vomited frequently and could digest only milk and cheese. Religious devotees point to this time as being that at which inexplicable phenomena began to occur. During prayers for example, Pio appeared to others to be in a stupor, as if he were absent. One of Pio's fellow friars later claimed to have seen him in ecstasy, and levitating above the ground.

In June 1905, Pio's health worsened to such an extent that his superiors decided to send him to a mountain convent, in the hope that the change of air would do him good. This had little impact, however, and doctors advised that he return home. Even there his health failed to improve. Despite this, he still made his solemn profession on 27 January 1907.

In August 1910, Pio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Four days later, he offered his first Mass at the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels.

His health being precarious, he was permitted to remain with his family in his hometown of Pietrelcina while still retaining the Capuchin habit. He stayed in Pietrelcina until 1916, due to his health and the need to take care of his family when his father and brother briefly immigrated to the United States. During these years, Padre Pio frequently wrote mystic letters to his spiritual directors, Father Benedetto and Father Agostino, two friars from the capuchin monastery of San Marco in Lamis.

Arrival at San Giovanni Rotondo

On 4 September 1916, Pio was ordered to return to his community life. He moved to an agricultural community, Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, located in the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo in the Province of Foggia. At that time the community numbered seven friars. He remained at San Giovanni Rotondo until his death in 1968, except for a period of military service. In the priesthood, Padre Pio was known to perform a number of successful conversions to Catholicism.

Pio was devoted to rosary meditations. He compared weekly confession to dusting a room weekly, and recommended the performance of meditation and self-examination twice daily: once in the morning, as preparation to face the day, and once again in the evening, as retrospection. His advice on the practical application of theology he often summed up in his now famous quote: "pray, hope, and don't worry". He directed Christians to recognize God in all things and to desire above all things to do the will of God.

Many people who heard of him traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo to meet him and confess to him, ask for help, or have their curiosity satisfied. Pio's mother died at the village around the convent in 1928. Later, in 1938, Pio had his elderly father Grazio live with him. His brother Michele also moved in. Pio's father lived in a little house outside the convent, until his death in 1946.

First World War and aftermath

When World War I started, four friars from this community were selected for military service in the Italian army. At that time, Pio was a teacher at the seminary and a spiritual director. When one more friar was called into service, Pio was put in charge of the community. On 15 November 1915, he was drafted and on December 6, assigned to the 10th Medical Corps in Naples. Due to poor health, he was continually discharged and recalled until on 16 March 1918, he was declared unfit for service and discharged completely.

In September 1918, Pio began to display permanent wounds on his hands and feet, known as stigmata in reference to the Christ's wounds. In the next months, his reputation of sainthood grew rapidly in the region of San Giovanni Rotondo, attracting hundreds of believers at the monastery coming each day to see him.

People who had started rebuilding their lives after the war began to see in Pio a symbol of hope. Those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts, including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (one account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on only the Holy Eucharist without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions, and pleasant-smelling wounds.

Pio increasingly became well known among the wider populace. He became a spiritual director, and developed five rules for spiritual growth: weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.

La Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza hospital

By 1925, Pio had converted an old convent building into a medical clinic with a few beds intended primarily for people in extreme need. In 1940, a committee was set-up to establish a bigger clinic and donations started to be made. Construction began in 1947.

According to Luzzatto, the bulk of the money for financing the hospital came directly from Emanuele Brunatto, a keen follower of Pio, who had made his fortune in the black market in German-occupied France. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) also contributed 250 million Italian lire.

Lodovico Montini, head of Democrazia Cristiana, and his brother Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI) facilitated engagement by UNRRA. The hospital was initially to be named "Fiorello LaGuardia", but eventually presented as the work of Pio himself. The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza () opened in 1956. Pio handed direct control to the Holy See. However, in order that Pio might directly supervise the project, Pope Pius XII granted him a dispensation from his vow of poverty in 1957. Some of Pio's detractors have subsequently suggested there had been misappropriation of funds.

Death
Pio died on September 23, 1968 at the age of 81. His health deteriorated in the 1960s, but he continued his spiritual works. On 22 September 1968, Padre Pio celebrated the mass to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his receiving the stigmata, with a huge crowd of pilgrims present to celebrate the event as well as television crews. Due to a large number of pilgrims present for the mass, the superior of the monastery decided that a solemn mass be celebrated. Pio carried out his duties but appeared extremely weak and frail. His voice was weak, and, after the Mass had concluded, he nearly collapsed while walking down the altar steps. He needed help from his Capuchin brothers. This was his last celebration of the mass.

Early in the morning of 23 September 1968, Pio made his last confession and renewed his Franciscan vows. As was customary, he had his rosary in his hands, though he did not have the strength to pray the Hail Marys aloud, instead repeating the words  (). At around 2:30a.m., he died in his cell in San Giovanni Rotondo.

A few days before dying the stigmata had disappeared. Examining Padre Pio's body, the doctor who was present at his deathbed observed that the wounds of the stigmata were completely healed, without any trace or scar. His body was placed in coffin in the church of the monastery to allow pilgrims to pay their respects. The funeral ceremony was held on 26 September, with an estimated 100,000 people attending. After a funeral procession in San Giovanni Rotondo and the funeral mass, the body was buried in the crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Grace.

Supernatural phenomena
Pio was said to have had mystical gifts such as reading souls, the ability to bilocate and the ability to work favors and healings before they were requested of him. His reported supernatural experiences also include celestial visions, communication with angels and physical fights with Satan and demons. The reports of supernatural phenomena surrounding Pio attracted fame and amazement, even if the Vatican seemed skeptical. Some of these phenomena were reported by Pio himself in letters written to his spiritual directors, while others have been reported by his followers.

Stigmata
Pio wrote in his letters that, early in his priesthood, he experienced bodily marks, pain, and bleeding in locations indicative of the (not yet visible) stigmata. In a letter to his spiritual companion and confessor Father Agostino Gemelli, dated 21 March 1912, Pio wrote of his devotion to the mystical body of Christ and the intuition that he would bear the stigmata. Luzzatto claims that in this letter Pio uses unrecognized passages from a book by the stigmatized mystic Gemma Galgani. Pio subsequently denied that he knew of or owned the cited book.

In a 1915 letter, Agostino asked Pio specific questions, including: when did he first experience visions, whether he was stigmatic, and whether he felt the pains of the Passion of Christ, namely the crowning of thorns and the scourging. Pio replied that he had had visions since his novitiate period (1903 to 1904), and that he was stigmatic, adding that he had been so terrified by the phenomenon that he begged God to withdraw his stigmata. He also wrote that he did not wish the pain to be removed, only the visible wounds, since he considered them to be an indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation.

On 20 September 1918, while hearing confessions, Pio said to have had a reappearance of the physical occurrence of the stigmata. His stigmatism was reported to have continued for fifty years, until the end of his life. The blood flowing from the stigmata purportedly smelled of perfume or flowers. Pio conveyed to Agostino that the pain remained and was more acute on specific days and under certain circumstances. Though he said he would have preferred to suffer in secret, by early 1919, news that he was a stigmatic had begun to spread. Pio often wore red mittens or black coverings on his hands and feet, saying that he was embarrassed by the marks.

Agostino Gemelli claimed that the wounds were consistent with those that soldiers had inflicted on themselves "by the use of a caustic substance". while Amico Bignami considered that Pio's wounds might be a skin necrosis that was hindered from healing through the use of iodine tincture or similar chemicals.

Once made public, the wounds were studied by a number of physicians, some hired by the Vatican as part of an independent investigation. Some claimed that the wounds were unexplainable and never seem to have become infected. Despite seeming to heal they would then reappear periodically. Alberto Caserta took X-rays of Pio's hands in 1954 and found no abnormality in the bone structure. Some critics accused Pio of faking the stigmata, for example by using carbolic acid to make the wounds. Maria De Vito (the cousin of the local pharmacist Valentini Vista at Foggia) testified that the young Pio bought carbolic acid and the great quantity of four grams of veratrine "without presenting any medical prescription whatsoever" and "in great secret". Veratrine is a "mixture of alkaloids", a "highly caustic product": "Veratrine is so poisonous, that only a doctor can decide whether to prescribe it", as the pharmacist Vista stated in front of witnesses. Veratrine was once used as a paralyzing muscle insecticide, primarily against lice, but was also described by pharmacists as an "external stimulant" that renders one insensitive to pain. Pio maintained that the carbolic acid was used to sterilize syringes used for medical treatments and that after being subjected to a practical joke where veratrine was mixed with snuff tobacco, causing uncontrollable sneezing after ingestion, he decided to acquire his own quantity of the substance in order to play the same joke on his confreres; the bishop of Volterra, Raffaello Rossi came to share this view, believing that "Instead of malice, what is revealed here is Padre Pio's simplicity, and his playful spirit", and that "the stigmata at issue are not a work of the devil, nor a gross deceit, a fraud, the trick of a devious and malicious person[...] his "stigmata" do not seem to me a morbid product of external suggestion." Rossi saw these stigmata as a "real fact".

Transverberation

In August 1918, a few weeks before reportedly receiving the stigmata, Pio described a mystical experience during which he felt being pierced and burnt spiritually and physically. According to Pio, this mystical experience began on 5 August and ended on 7 August. Padre Benedetto, his spiritual director, interpreted this phenomenon as a transverberation. Pio later claimed that this experience left a physical wound on his left side. Most witnesses who examined Pio's wounds reported that he had a wound on his left side, around three-inch long and the shape of a cross.

Bilocation
Pio was believed by his followers to have the gift of bilocation, the ability to be in two places at the same time. When bishop Raffaele Rossi asked him about bilocation as part of a Vatican inquiry, Pio replied: "I don't know how it is or the nature of this phenomenon—and I certainly don't give it much thought—but it did happen to me to be in the presence of this or that person, to be in this or that place; I do not know whether my mind was transported there, or what I saw was some sort of representation of the place or the person; I do not know whether I was there with my body or without it."

Healing
In the 1999 book Padre Pio: The Wonder Worker, a segment by Irish priest Malachy Gerard Carroll describes the story of Gemma de Giorgi, a Sicilian girl whose blindness was believed to have been cured during a visit to Pio. Gemma, who was brought to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1947 by her grandmother, was born without pupils. During her trip to see Pio, the little girl began to see objects, including a steamboat and the sea. Gemma's grandmother did not believe the child had been healed. After Gemma forgot to ask Pio for grace during her confession, her grandmother implored the priest to ask God to restore her sight. Pio told her, "The child must not weep and neither must you for the child sees and you know she sees."

According to the bishop of Volterra, Raffaele Rossi, in charge of investigating Pio: "Of the alleged healings, many are unconfirmed or non-existent. In Padre Pio's correspondence, however, there are some credible declarations that attribute miracles to his intercession. But without medical confirmation it is difficult to reach a conclusion, and the issue remains open."

Prophecy
In 1947, 27-year old Father Karol Józef Wojtyła (later Pope John Paul II) visited Pio, who heard his confession. Austrian Cardinal Alfons Stickler reported that Wojtyła confided to him that during this meeting, Pio told him he would one day ascend to "the highest post in the church, though further confirmation is needed." Stickler said that Wojtyła believed that the prophecy was fulfilled when he became a cardinal. John Paul's secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz, denies the prediction, while George Weigel's biography Witness to Hope, which contains an account of the same visit, does not mention it.

Others
Rossi describes in Pio a "very intense and pleasant fragrance, similar to the scent of the violet", and concludes that he was unable to determine the origin of the scent. Pio replied that he had intellectual visions seen through the eyes of the intellect, accounts of diabolical assaults and harassment against him, malicious visions under human shape and beastly shape, and Pio confirmed to Rossi: "A very few times I happened to feel inside me with clarity someone's fault, or sin, or virtue, of people of whom I had some knowledge, at least generally".

Investigations by the Vatican

The Vatican initially imposed severe sanctions on Pio in the 1920s to reduce publicity about him: he was forbidden from saying Mass in public, blessing people, answering letters, showing his stigmata publicly, and communicating with Padre Benedetto, his spiritual director.

The church authorities decided that Pio be relocated to another convent in northern Italy.
The local people threatened to riot, and the Vatican left him where he was. A second plan for removal was also changed. Nevertheless, from 1921 to 1922 he was prevented from publicly performing his priestly duties, such as hearing confessions and saying Mass. From 1924 to 1931, the Holy See made statements denying that the events in Pio's life were due to any divine cause.

Luigi Romanelli, medical examination from 1919
A large number of doctors visited Pio to verify whether the stigmata were real. The first to study his wounds was Luigi Romanelli, chief physician of the civil hospital of Barletta, by order of the provincial father superior, on May 15 and 16, 1919. In his report, among other things he wrote: "The lesions on his hands are covered with a membrane that is reddish-brown in color, without any bleeding, swelling, or inflammation of the surrounding tissue. I am convinced without a doubt that the wounds are not just superficial. When I press together my thumb on the palm of his hand and my index finger on the back of his hand, I clearly perceive that a vacuum exists between them."

Amico Bignami, medical examination from 1919
Two months later, on July 26, pathologist Amico Bignami arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo. Bignami conducted a medical examination of Pio's wounds in 1919 and launched several hypotheses, among which was that the wounds were a skin necrosis that was hindered from healing by chemicals such as iodine tincture.

Giorgio Festa, medical examinations 1919 and 1920
Festa was a physician who examined Pio in 1919 and 1920. He was obviously impressed by the fragrance of the stigmata. Festa, as Bignami before, had described the side wound as cruciform. In his report to the Holy Office of 1925, Festa arrived at a benevolent verdict and attacked Gemelli's critical view of Pio's stigmata, with theological arguments playing the lead role.

Agostino Gemelli, psychiatric examination 1920 and medical examination 1925
In 1920, father Agostino Gemelli – a physician and psychologist – was commissioned by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val to visit Pio and carry out a clinical examination of the wounds. "For this reason, despite having gone to Gargano Peninsula on his own initiative, without being asked by any ecclesiastical authority, Gemelli did not hesitate to make his private letter to the Holy Office a kind of unofficial report on Padre Pio." Gemelli wanted to express himself fully on the matter and wanted to meet the friar. Pio showed a closed attitude towards the new investigator: he refused the visit requesting the written authorization of the Holy Office. Father Gemelli's protests that he believed he had the right to subject the friar to a medical examination of the stigmata were in vain. The friar, supported by his superiors, conditioned the examination to a permit requested through the hierarchy, without taking into account the credentials of Father Agostino Gemelli. Therefore, Gemelli left the convent, irritated and offended for not being allowed to examine the stigmata. He came to the conclusion that Francesco Forgione was "a man of restricted field of knowledge, low psychic energy, monotonous ideas, little volition." Gemelli critically judged Pio: "The case is one of suggestion unconsciously planted by Father Benedetto in the weak mind of Padre Pio, producing those characteristic manifestations of psittacism that are intrinsic to the hysteric mind."

On behalf of the Holy Office, Gemelli re-examined Pio in 1925, writing a report in April 1926. This time Pio allowed him to see the wounds. Gemelli saw as its cause the use of a corrosive substance Pio had applied himself to these wounds. The Jesuit Festa had previously tried to question Gemelli's comments on stigmata in general. Gemelli responded to this criticism in his report and resorted to responding to his knowledge of self-inflicted wounds. He therefore clarified his statements about the nature of Pio's wounds: "Anyone with experience in forensic medicine, and above all in variety by sores and wounds that self-destructive soldiers were presented during the war, can have no doubt that these were wounds of erosion caused by the use of a caustic substance. The base of the sore and its shape are in every way similar to the sores observed in soldiers who procured them with chemical means."

Once again, Gemelli judged Pio's mental abilities as limited: "He [Pio] is the ideal partner with whom former Minister Provincial Father Benedetto is able to create an incubus-succubus pair[...] He is a good priest: calm, quiet, meek, more because of the mental deficiency than out of virtue. A poor soul, able to repeat a few stereotypical religious phrases, a poor, sick man who has learned his lesson from his master, Father Benedetto." Gemelli wrote in 1940 and later several times to the Holy Office on what he considered to be unjustified claims to the sanctity of Pio.

Raffaele Rossi, First Apostolic Visitation of 1921
The Bishop of Volterra, Raffaele Rossi, Carmelite, was formally commissioned on June 11, 1921, by the Holy Office to make a canonical inquiry concerning Pio. Rossi began his Apostolic Visitation on June 14 in San Giovanni Rotondo with the interrogation of witnesses, two diocesan priests and seven friars. After eight days of investigation, he finally completed a benevolent report, which he sent to the Holy Office on October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The extensive and detailed report essentially stated the following: Pio, of whom Rossi had a favorable impression, was a good religious and the San Giovanni Rotondo convent was a good community. The stigmata could not be explained, but certainly were not a work of the devil or an act of gross deceit or fraud; neither were they the trick of a devious and malicious person. During the interviews with the witnesses, which Rossi undertook a total of three times, he let himself be shown the stigmata of the then-34-year-old Pio. Rossi saw these stigmata as a "real fact".

In his notes, which have been put directly on paper, and the final report, Rossi describes the shape and appearance of the wounds. Those in the hands were "very visible". Those in the feet were "disappearing. What could be observed resembled two dot-shaped elevations [literally: 'buttons'] with whiter and gentler skin." As for the chest, it says: "In his side, the sign is represented by a triangular spot, the color of red wine, and by other smaller ones, not anymore, then, by a sort of upside-down cross such as the one seen in 1919 by Dr. Bignami and Dr. Festa." Rossi also made a request to the Holy Office, a chronicle to consult with Pio, who was assembling Father Benedetto, or at least to have the material he has collected so that one day he could write about the life of Pio.

According to Rossi, "Of the alleged healings, many are unconfirmed or non-existent. In Padre Pio's correspondence, however, there are some credible declarations that attribute miracles to his intercession. But without medical confirmation it is difficult to reach a conclusion, and the issue remains open." According to Lucia Ceci, Rossi could not find any of the attributed miracles.

When Rossi asked him about bilocation, Pio replied: "I don't know how it is or the nature of this phenomenon—and I certainly don't give it much thought—but it did happen to me to be in the presence of this or that person, to be in this or that place; I do not know whether my mind was transported there, or what I saw was some sort of representation of the place or the person; I do not know whether I was there with my body or without it."

John XXIII, investigations and tape recordings, after 1958
Pope John XXIII was skeptical of Padre Pio. At the beginning of his tenure, he learned that Father Pio's opponents had placed listening devices in his monastery cell and confessional, recording his confessions with tape. Outside his semi-official journal, John XXIII wrote on four sheets of paper that he prayed for "PP" (Padre Pio) and the discovery by means of tapes, if what they imply is true, of his intimate and indecent relationships with women from his impenetrable praetorian guard around his person pointed to a terrible calamity of souls. John XXIII had probably never listened to the tapes himself, but assumed the correctness of this view: "The reason for my spiritual tranquillity, and it is a priceless privilege and grace, is that I feel personally pure of this contamination that for forty years has corroded hundreds of thousands of souls made foolish and deranged to an unheard-of degree." According to Luzzatto, the Vatican had not ordered this wiretap. In another journal note, John XXIII wrote that he wanted to take action. In fact, he ordered another Apostolic Visitation.

Carlo Maccari, Second Apostolic Visitation of 1960
Father Carlo Maccari was Secretary-General of the Diocese of Rome and met Pio nine times altogether. There was reciprocal mistrust between Pio and Maccari, who wrote in his diary: "Reticence, narrowness of mind, lies - these are the weapons he uses to evade my questions ... Overall impression: pitiful." Maccari demanded Father Pio's omission to practice kisses after the confession for the lay sisters. Maccari noted in his report that Pio had inadequate religious education. He works a lot for a man of his age. He is not an ascetic and has many connections to the outside world. In general, there is too much mixing of the "sacred" and the "all too human". In his report, Maccari noted by name the women who revealed at which time to have been the lover of Pio, but without assessing the veracity of these statements. Maccari focused on assessing the fanaticism of Pio's social environment, describing it as "religious conceptions that oscillate between superstition and magic." Maccari called Pio's supporters "a vast and dangerous organization". Pio never had his own supporters advised to moderation. Maccari wondered how God could allow "so much deception".

Maccari finished his critical report with a list of recommendations for further dealing with Father Pio. The brothers of Santa Maria delle Grazie should gradually be relocated, a new abbot should come from outside the region. No one should be allowed to confess to Pio more than once a month. The hospital was to be given new statutes to sever the responsibilities of the medical and spiritual "healing" capuchins. Following Maccari's Apostolic Visitation, John XXIII noted in his diary that he sees Father Pio as a "straw idol" (idolo di stoppa).

Rehabilitation

In 1933, Pope Pius XI ordered a reversal of the ban on Pio's public celebration of Mass, arguing, "I have not been badly disposed toward Padre Pio, but I have been badly informed." In 1934, the friar was again allowed to hear confessions. He was also given honorary permission to preach despite never having taken the exam for the preaching license. Pope Pius XII, who assumed the papacy in 1939, even encouraged devotees to visit Pio.

Finally, in the mid-1960s Pope Paul VI (pope from 1963 to 1978) dismissed all accusations against Padre Pio.

Personal views

Religion

Pio was a strong proponent of weekly confession, describing it as "the soul's bath". Pio established five rules for spiritual growth, which included weekly confession, daily communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and frequent examination of one's conscience." He taught his spiritual followers that suffering is a special sign of God's love, for it makes you "resemble His divine son in His anguish in the desert and on the hill of Calvary."

Pio held a harsh attitude towards vain women, stating: "Women who satisfy their vanity in their dress can never put on the life of Jesus Christ; moreover they even lose the ornaments of their soul as soon as this idol enters into their heart."

Pio also held to strict rules concerning modesty, and refused confession to women who did not wear skirts that extended a minimum of  past the knees. He posted a notice at the entrance of the Church of St. Mary of All Graces in San Giovanni Rotondo, reading: "The Church is the house of God. It is forbidden for men to enter with bare arms or in shorts. It is forbidden for women to enter in trousers, without a veil on their head, in short clothing, low necklines, sleeveless or immodest dresses."

Although Pio wasn't satisfied with some changes following the Second Vatican Council, in particular changes with the liturgy, he emphasized obedience to the church. On one occasion, Pio met with Suor Pia, his sister and a former nun who left her order following the council. Suor Pia was a traditionalist and was upset at the changes made by her liberal superiors, causing her to leave her convent at the age of seventy. Pio burst into tears and snapped at her over this decision, telling his sister "They are wrong and you are right, but you still must obey. You must return." She refused, causing him to weep uncontrollably and continue praying for her.

Following the publication of Humanae vitae, Pio was distraught over criticism aimed at the encyclical. He wrote to Pope Paul VI over this, affirming his obedience to the Church's teaching on birth control and reassuring Paul VI in his time of need. Pio informed the pope that he would offer up his daily prayers and suffering for the pontiff, due to Paul VI's defense of "eternal truth, which never changes with the passing of years."

As Pio grew older, he became increasingly distrustful of television. After the Second World War, when Pio's nephew, Ettorne Masone, asked Pio for advice on opening a movie house, Pio warned him to be careful about what movies he would show. Pio stated "You don't want to contribute to the propagation of evil." By the 1960s, Pio was displeased that the Capuchins were now permitted to watch television. To Pio, television was responsible for the destruction of the family life and he strongly warned others not to buy one when asked. On one occasion, when asked about motion pictures, Pio replied "The devil is in it!" On another occasion, Pio told a penitent in confession that the reason the penitent's car had broken down the day before was because the penitent was driving to a movie theater.

Pio became exceedingly pessimistic about the state of the world towards the end of his life. When asked what awaited the world in the future, Pio replied "Can't you see the world is catching on fire?" In his last three years, he began to withdraw further from life, feeling unworthy and unsure of his salvation. Pio frequently asked his superior, "Give me the obedience to die."

Politics
Padre Pio was not especially concerned with politics, but voted in Italian elections and voiced his opinions on various issues. He initially felt that Benito Mussolini had done a good job during his rule, but his feelings on Mussolini quickly became negative as time passed. When visited by one of Mussolini's messengers, Pio yelled at the man, "So now you come to me, after you have destroyed Italy. You can tell Mussolini that nothing can save Italy now! Nothing!" Pio also thought highly of the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who he described as a "great man". Additionally, Pio expressed great concern over the spread of communism during his life and frequently prayed to help combat it.

In 1948, in a letter written to Alcide De Gasperi, Pio noted his support for the Christian Democracy party. Pio's involvement is attributed to having helped the party win elections, with Italian communists hating Pio for it. One communist spokesman grumbled that Pio's presence at the voting polls "took votes away from us".

Following the Christian Democracy's political victories in elections, Pio was continually consulted by political Italian leaders including Aldo Moro, Antonio Segni, Mariano Rumor, and Giovanni Leone. Pio received letters requesting his prayers throughout his life, including one from Alfonso XIII in March 1923. Pio also prayed for various notable political figures, including George V.

In 1963, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Pio broke down in tears. When asked by another priest if he would pray for Kennedy's salvation, Pio replied, "It's not necessary. He's already in Paradise."

The Italian historian Sergio Luzzatto it, a specialist of the history of Italian fascism, wrote in 2011 a biography of Padre Pio in which he suggests that a "clerical-fascist mixture" developed around Padre Pio. Luzzatto relates that in August 1920, on the feast of the Assumption, Pio blessed a flag for a group of local veterans who were trying to develop links with local fascists to fight against communists. He also states that Pio subsequently met with , a fascist politician from Foggia, and became his confessor and that of members of his militia. He suggests that Caradonna mounted a "praetorian guard" around Padre Pio to prevent any attempts to remove him from the monastery and transfer him elsewhere.

Posthumous veneration

Canonization

In 1982, the Holy See authorized the archbishop of Manfredonia to open an investigation to determine whether Pio should be canonized. The investigation continued for seven years. In 1990, Pio was declared a Servant of God, the first step in the process of canonization. The investigation, however, did not lead to any public factual clearance by the Church on the allegations that his stigmata were not of a supernatural kind. Moreover, Pio's stigmata were remarkably left out of the obligatory investigations for the canonization process, in order to avoid obstacles prohibiting a successful closure.

Beginning in 1990, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints debated how Padre Pio had lived his life, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II declared him venerable. A discussion of the effects of his life on others followed. Cases were studied such as a reported cure of an Italian woman, Consiglia de Martino, associated with Padre Pio's intercession. In 1999, on the advice of the Congregation, John Paul II declared Padre Pio blessed and set 23 September as the date of his liturgical feast.

The mass for his beatification was celebrated on 2 May 1999 by John Paul II on St. Peter's Square in Rome, with more than 300,000 faithful attending the ceremony. In his homily, John Paul II mentioned Padre Pio's stigmata and his mystical gifts:

After his beatification, another case of healing attributed to his intercession was examined, an Italian boy named Matteo Pio Colella who recovered from a coma After further consideration of Padre Pio's virtues and ability to do good even after his death, John Paul II promulgated the decree of canonization on 28 February 2002. The mass for the canonization was celebrated by John Paul II on 16 June 2002 on St. Peter's Square in Rome, with an estimated 300,000 people attending the ceremony.

Pilgrimage sites

The town of San Giovanni Rotondo, where Padre Pio spent most of his life, is the main pilgrimage site dedicated to his memory. The Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, which is the church of the capuchin monastery where Padre Pio celebrated mass, has become a pilgrimage site for his followers after his death in 1968. As the number of pilgrims kept increasing over the years, the Capuchins decided to build a new shrine near the church. The construction of the shrine began in 1991 and was completed in 2004. On 1 July 2004, John Paul II dedicated the Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, sometimes referred as the Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church. The sanctuary has a capacity of around 6,000 people and its parvis has a 30,000 capacity. The relics of Padre Pio are located in the crypt of the new sanctuary and displayed for veneration by the pilgrims.

The town of Pietrelcina, where Padre Pio grew up, is another pilgrimage site which became popular among devotees. The sites which can be visited by pilgrims in Pietrelcina include Pio's family house where he was born, his room in an ancient tower in which he stayed as a friar when he was ill, the Santa Anna Church where he was baptized, the Santa Maria degli Angeli Church, where he was ordained a deacon prior to becoming a priest, and the Capuchin Church of the Holy Family. It is estimated that around two millions pilgrims come to Pietrelcina every year.

Sanctuaries and places dedicated to the veneration of Padre Pio outside Italy include the Padre Pio Shrine in Santo Tomas, Batangas in the Philippines and the National Center for Padre Pio in Barto, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Veneration by the popes
Popes have encouraged popular devotion to Padre Pio in various ways, notably by visiting the places associated with his life and ministry. San Giovanni Rotondo, where Padre Pio spent most of his life and where his shrine is located, was visited by Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Pietrelcina, Padre Pio's birthplace, was visited by Pope Francis.

Pope John Paul II had much admiration for Padre Pio even before he became Pope, when Padre Pio was still alive. In 1947, as a young priest studying in Rome, Karol Wojtyła made a pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo to meet Padre Pio in person. He returned to San Giovanni Rotondo as a cardinal, in 1974. He visited San Giovanni Rotondo again in May 1987 as Pope John Paul II, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Padre Pio's birth.

On 21 June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI visited San Giovanni Rotondo as a pastoral visit. He visited the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church to venerate of the relics of Padre Pio in the crypt, celebrated mass and met with various people, including with the sick and the employees of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza.

Pope Francis has also supported popular devotion to Padre Pio. During the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, he requested that Padre Pio's relics be exposed for veneration in St. Peter's Basilica from 8 to 14 February 2016 and he specially honored Padre Pio as a "saint-confessors" to inspire people to resort to the sacrament of Penance during the Jubilee. On 17 March 2018, Pope Francis visited both Pietrelcina and San Giovanni Rotondo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Padre Pio's death.

Exhumation

On 3 March 2008, the body of Pio was exhumed from his crypt, forty years after his death, so that his remains could be prepared for display. A church statement described the body as being in "fair condition". Archbishop Domenico Umberto D'Ambrosio, Papal legate to the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo, stated "the top part of the skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved". Archbishop D'Ambrosio also confirmed in a communiqué that "the stigmata are not visible". He said that Pio's hands "looked like they had just undergone a manicure". It was hoped that morticians would be able to restore the face so that it would be recognizable. However, because of its deterioration, his face was covered with a lifelike silicone mask. This mask was made from a 1968 photograph of Padre Pio's body by the London-based Gems Studio, which usually works for wax museums and ethnological museums.

Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, celebrated Mass for 15,000 devotees on 24 April at the Shrine of Holy Mary of Grace, San Giovanni Rotondo, before the body went on display in a crystal, marble, and silver sepulcher in the crypt of the monastery. Padre Pio is wearing his brown Capuchin habit with a white silk stole embroidered with crystals and gold thread. His hands hold a large wooden cross. 800,000 pilgrims worldwide, mostly from Italy, made reservations to view the body up to December 2008, but only 7,200 people a day were able to file past the crystal coffin. Officials extended the display through September 2009.

Pio's remains were placed in the church of Saint Pio, which is beside San Giovanni Rotondo. In April 2010 they were moved to a special golden crypt.

Prayer groups
Padre Pio's prayer groups began in the 1950s when Pope Pius XII called to form groups gathering monthly to pray together. Padre Pio responded to this call and encouraged his devotees to form such groups. The groups were associated to the construction of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, with a biweekly bulletin named after the hospital and published from 1949, which helped these group develop. In 1951, the first statutes of the prayer groups were codified. The prayer groups gathered monthly, with the agreement of the local bishop and under the guidance of a priest, to pray for the pope and for Padre Pio's ministries. New statutes were formally approved by the Vatican in 1986. Padre Pio's prayer groups are coordinated from their headquarters in the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza.

The prayer groups kept growing during Padre Pio's life and after his death. In 1968 at Padre Pio's death, there were around 700 groups, with 68,000 members in 15 countries. In 2013, there were approximately 3,300 registered groups in 60 countries, with about 75% of those groups based in Italy and 25% outside of Italy, mainly in France, Ireland and the United States.

Worldwide devotion

Padre Pio has become one of the world's most popular saints. There are more than 3,000 "Padre Pio Prayer Groups" worldwide, with three million members. The first St Padre Pio parish in the world was established 16 June 2002 in Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada. There are parishes in Vineland and Lavallette, New Jersey, and Sydney, Australia, and shrines in Buena, New Jersey, and Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines, dedicated to Padre Pio. A 2006 survey by the magazine Famiglia Cristiana found that more Italian Catholics pray to Padre Pio for intercession than to any other figure.

In 2002, a few months after the canonization of Padre Pio, a new TV station was launched in Italy dedicated to his life and devotion, named Padre Pio TV. It is based at San Giovanni Rotondo and broadcasts on its own website and various internet platforms.

The remains of Saint Pio were brought to the Vatican for veneration during the 2015–2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. Saint Pio and Saint Leopold Mandic were designated as saint-confessors to inspire people to become reconciled to the Church and to God, by the confession of their sins.

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina was named the patron saint of civil defence volunteers, after a group of 160 petitioned the Italian Bishops' conference for this designation. The bishops forwarded the request to the Vatican, which gave its approval to the designation. He is also "less officially" known as the patron saint of stress relief and the January blues", after the Catholic Enquiry Office in London proclaimed him as such. They designated the most depressing day of the year, identified as the Monday closest to January 22, as Don't Worry Be Happy Day, in honor of Padre Pio's famous advice:  "Pray, hope, and don't worry."

Iconography
Padre Pio's iconography has been widely reproduced on devotional items and statues throughout Italy and the world, even before his beatification and canonization. His portrait can be seen in Italy in many churches as well as in private homes and public places, such as shops restaurants. In religious art, he is usually depicted in his brown Capuchin habit with gloves covering his stigmata.

Statues of Padre Pio have been erected in Italy and in other countries, including in the United States, the Philippines and Malta. In the St. Padre Pio Shrine in Landisville, New Jersey, there is a statue of Padre Pio built in and imported from Italy. A statue of Pio in Messina, Sicily, attracted attention in 2002 when it supposedly wept tears of blood. In Italy, near the coast of the Capraia island in the Mediterranean Sea, there is an underwater statue of Padre Pio at 40 feet (12,19 meters) deep, submerged in 1998.

In 2021, the construction of a new sanctuary dedicated to Padre Pio started on a hill overlooking Cebu City, in the Philippines, with a 100-foot-tall statue of Padre Pio. The same year a statue of Padre Pio was inaugurated in the Padre Pio Shrine in Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines.

See also
 Padre Pio: Miracle Man
 Padre Pio (film)
 Padre Pio TV
 Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
 Victim soul
 Visions of Jesus and Mary

References

Citations

Sources

External links

 "Padre Pio de Pietrelcina" in Vatican News Service
 Padre Pio of Pietrelcina – Official website
 Magazine The Voice of Padre Pio – Official website
 Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina – Official Website
 Padre Pio of Pietrelcina – Official TV and radio channels
 Padre Pio of Pietrelcina – Books and religious gifts
 Padre Pio Foundation of America
 All about Padre Pio

Unofficial biographies
 The New York Times, April 25, 2008: "Italian Saint Stirs Up a Mix of Faith and Commerce".

1887 births
1968 deaths
20th-century Christian saints
20th-century Christian mystics
Capuchins
Capuchin saints
Catholic exorcists
Roman Catholic mystics
Angelic visionaries
Franciscan saints
People from the Province of Benevento
Stigmatics
Beatifications by Pope John Paul II
Canonizations by Pope John Paul II
Miracle workers
Italian Franciscans
Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II
Italian exorcists
San Giovanni Rotondo
Italian Roman Catholic saints

Padre Pio


Kineuchar (or Kinneuchar; : [kɪˈnjʌxər]) is a clachan an pairish in the Kinrick o Fife. It is bund by the pairishes o Elie, Ceres, St Monans, Carnbee, Newburn and Lergae.
It is aboot 9 mile frae north tae sooth. Maist o the laund is uised for fermin or is widdit. The clachan itsel is seetuate inland on Kineuchar Loch.

Pairish Kirk
Kineuchar Pairish Kirk is ithin the Kirk o Scotland. The historic Kirk biggin is still in raiglar uiss; it haes a byordinar heich touer, gey an seemilar tae that o Cockpen an Carrington Pairish Kirk in Midlowden.

Veelages in Fife
Pairishes in Fife

Kineuchar


Johann Puch (, 27 June 1862 – 19 July 1914) was a Slovene inventor and mechanic who went on to become the founder of the Austrian Puch automobile plants, then one of the most significant vehicle producers in Europe.

Biography
Johann Puch was born on 27 June 1862 to Slovene peasants at house no. 79 in Sakušak near Ptuj (Pettau), part of Lower Styria, Slovenia. He was the son of the cottager Franz Puch and Agnes Ziserl Puch, and he was baptized Johann Puch the same day in Juršinci. The eldest son of nine children, he left his family home at the age of eight and at twelve apprenticed as a locksmith in Ptuj. Having finished his training in 1877, he moved to the Styrian capital Graz, where he did his military service and from 1885 worked for several employers. He concentrated on bicycle manufacturing and soon became a noted specialist. On 18 September 1889, he married Maria Anna Reinitzhuber at the cathedral in Graz.

In 1889 Puch travelled to a bicycle trade fair in Leipzig, where he concluded a contract with Thomas Humber's cycle company. The same year he founded his first workshop in Graz and started to distribute Styria safety bicycles. His enterprise quickly expanded and in 1891 he founded the Johann Puch & Comp. trading company with 34 employees, selling bicycles all over Austria-Hungary, as well as exporting to the United Kingdom and France. Racers on Styria bicycles were successful in long-distance road races, most notably Josef Fischer, winner of the first edition of Paris–Roubaix in 1896. At that time, Puch already employed more than 300 workers and sold about 6,000 bicycle per annum.

His achievements but also discrepancies with his affiliates led to the founding of his own manufacturing company in 1899, called Johann Puch - Erste steiermärkische Fahrrad-Fabriks-Actien Gesellschaft (First Styrian Bicycle Stock Company) in Graz. The company started producing motorcycles in 1903 and automobiles in 1904. By 1912 Puch's factory employed 1,100 workers and manufactured 300 cars, 300 motorcycles and 16,000 bicycles per year. He retired in 1912 but remained honorary president of the company.

Up to 1914 Puch developed 21 different types of cars, and also lorries, buses, military and some other special vehicles, including sedan limousines for the imperial Habsburg family. He successfully obtained patents for more than 35 inventions and improvements. He died of a stroke while attending a horserace in Agram (Zagreb).

The Puch company manufactured vehicles for the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. Puch's motorcycles and cars were successful in races and rallies all over Europe and carried his name among vehicle producers. From 1934 the tradition was continued by the Steyr-Daimler-Puch company in Graz and Vienna.

See also
 Austro-Daimler
 Magna Steyr

References

External links

 Johann Puch-Museum Graz
 The Compatriot Johann Puch - Janez Puh Juršinci Society

1862 births
1914 deaths

Slovenian automobile designers
People from the Municipality of Juršinci
Industrialists from Austria-Hungary
Inventors from Austria-Hungary

Automotive pioneers

Johann Puch


Leontina Văduva (born 1 December 1960) is a Romanian soprano. Born in Roșiile, she studied at the Bucharest Conservatory with Ileana Cotrubaș, and debuted in the title role of Manon at Toulouse in 1987. A recipient of the Laurence Olivier Opera Award, she has often appeared at Covent Garden, in Rigoletto (opposite Ingvar Wixell and Jerry Hadley, 1989), Carmen (as Micaëla, 1991 and 1994), and Roméo et Juliette (1994). Leontina Vaduva is the daughter of the Romanian popular music singer Maria Ciobanu.

In 2000, Vaduva appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, in six performances of La bohème (as Mimì, with Luis Lima). The soprano has also sung with the companies of Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Chicago, Cologne, Vienna, and Paris.

Her discography includes Rigoletto (1993), Les contes d'Hoffmann (as Antonia, with Roberto Alagna, conducted by Kent Nagano, 1994–96), La bohème (again with Alagna, led by Sir Antonio Pappano, 1995), and an album of "Opera Arias," conducted by Plácido Domingo (1997).  Especially noteworthy is her DVD of Roméo et Juliette, with Alagna, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and directed by Nicolas Joël (1994).

References
 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, Oxford University Press, 1996.

External links
 Leontina Vaduva in an excerpt from Roméo et Juliette (1994).

1960 births
Living people
Romanian operatic sopranos
Laurence Olivier Award winners
21st-century Romanian women  opera  singers
People from Vâlcea County
20th-century Romanian women opera singers
National University of Music Bucharest alumni
Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Leontina Vaduva


The THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription of Standard Tibetan (or THL Phonetic Transcription for short) is a system for the phonetic rendering of the Tibetan language.

It was created by David Germano and Nicolas Tournadre and was published on 12 December 2003. It is essentially a simplified form of the Tournadre Phonetic System, which is used by Tournadre in his Tibetan-language textbooks.

THL (formerly THDL) stands for the "Tibetan and Himalayan Library" project, which is hosted at the University of Virginia.

Overview

Onsets

Vowels

References

External links
 The Transliteration and Transcription of Tibetan (Tibetan & Himalayan Library)
 THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription of Standard Tibetan
 THL Extended Wylie Transliteration of Tibetan

Tibet
Romanization of Tibetan

THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription


The Machain–Irigoyen Treaty was a border treaty signed in Buenos Aires on 3 February 1876 between Paraguay and Argentina. Concluded in the aftermath of the Paraguayan War, it was signed by Facundo Machaín and Bernardo de Irigoyen.

It satisfied most of Argentina's territorial claims and led to the complete withdrawal of Allied occupational troops from Paraguay by the mid-summer of 1876. Argentina gained the disputed Misiones Province and all the lands south of the Pilcomayo River, which forms Formosa Province. Argentina gave up its claims on Villa Occidental. Only the issue of the Chaco Boreal (Northern Chaco) was left unresolved.

Brazil had signed the separate Loizaga–Cotegipe Treaty with Paraguay in 1872 and sided with Paraguay in its negotiations with Argentina. Paraguay, with Brazilian support, refused to give up Chaco territory, and both sides agreed to international arbitration by American president Rutherford B. Hayes, who, on November 12, 1878, decided in favor of Paraguay. In his honor, the Presidente Hayes Department was created.

That decision created a scandal in Bolivia, which claimed much of the disputed Chaco region. The unresolved conflict would later lead to the 1932-1935 Chaco War.

References

External links

History of Paraguay
1876 treaties
1876 in Argentina
February 1876 events
Argentina–Paraguay relations
1870s in Paraguay
Treaties of Paraguay
Treaties of Argentina
Paraguayan War

Machaín-Irigoyen Treaty


Arnaud Gonzalez (born 24 August 1977) is a French football coach and former player who is assistant coach for Ligue 2 club Niort. who played as an attacking midfielder. Gonzalez started his career with AJ Auxerre, joining the club's youth setup at the age of 14. He made his senior debut in 1996, but failed to break into the first-team during the early stages of his career. Whilst with Auxerre, he represented France at under-19 level and was part of the team that won the 1996 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship.

Gonzalez spent the 2000–01 season on loan at AS Beauvais Oise, where he scored two goals in 34 league matches. He then returned to Auxerre for four seasons before joining EA Guingamp in the summer of 2005. After one season with Guingamp he signed for Chamois Niortais and was a member of the squad that suffered successive relegations in 2008 and 2009, before winning the Championnat de France amateur Group C in 2010. He remained with Niort until 11 February 2013, when he announced his immediate retirement from football.

Early career
Gonzalez was born in Dijon, Côte-d'Or, on 24 August 1977. He played junior football with local team Marsannay-la-Côte until 1992, when he joined the youth setup at AJ Auxerre at the age of 14. He played in the Auxerre side that won the France Under-17s cup in 1994. Gonzalez was selected to represent the France national under-19 football team at the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship in 1996. He played alongside footballers such as Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Mikael Silvestre and Yoann Bigné in the team that won the competition, defeating Spain in the final.

Senior career
Gonzalez was promoted to the Auxerre first-team in 1995 and made his Ligue 1 debut on 27 January 1996 in the 1–0 victory against Le Havre AC, as a replacement for Christophe Cocard, who was suspended for the game. Gonzalez did not make another league appearance for the club during the 1995–96 season as they won Ligue 1 and were crowned champions of France. He spent the whole of the following campaign in the reserves, scoring 9 goals in 21 matches. Gonzalez returned to the first-team towards the end of the 1997–98 season, and scored his first senior goal for Auxerre in the 2–1 win away at SC Bastia on 7 March 1998. He also made one brief appearance in the UEFA Cup. Gonzalez attributed his lack of first-team experience in his early years with Auxerre to the reluctance of manager Guy Roux to rotate the squad, even when players were carrying injuries. After making only one more appearance for the club between 1998 and 2000, Gonzalez was put on the list of players available to be loaned to Ligue 2 clubs in the summer of 2000.

AS Beauvais Oise manager Jacky Bonnevay expressed an interest in Gonzalez, and he joined the team on a season-long loan for the 2000–01 campaign. He impressed the manager in pre-season, scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 friendly win against Red Star Saint-Ouen. Gonzalez made his full Beauvais debut in the club's first league match of the season, a 1–3 home defeat to Montpellier HSC on 29 July 2000, and played in all of the team's opening 17 matches of the campaign. After three matches out of the team, he returned as a substitute for the 2–0 loss to FC Gueugnon on 29 November 2000. He started the following match, and scored his first goal for the club in the 1–1 draw with AS Nancy. Gonzalez went on to score twice in 34 league games for Beauvais before returning to Auxerre for the beginning of the 2001–02 season.

Upon his return, Gonzalez again found himself on the fringes of the first-team, making 12 appearances throughout the campaign, mostly as a substitute. Auxerre qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the following season, and Gonzalez played four matches in the competition, including a substitute appearance against Arsenal on 3 October 2002. He continued to play for Auxerre until the summer of 2005, scoring four goals in a total of 56 matches for the club. Gonzalez signed for EA Guingamp, who had just been relegated from Ligue 1, on a free transfer for the 2005–06 season. He made his debut for the club on 5 August 2005 in the 0–0 draw away at FC Istres. Two matches later, he scored his first Guingamp goal in the 2–1 win against his hometown team Dijon FCO. He then netted in consecutive league matches for the first time in his career, firstly scoring the winning goal in the victory over FC Sète and then adding to his tally in the side's 1–2 loss to FC Lorient.

Gonzalez left Guingamp in 2006 after just one season, and he was signed on a free transfer by Chamois Niortais, who were managed at the time by Philippe Hinschberger. Niort were new arrivals to Ligue 2, having won promotion via the Championnat National the previous season. Gonzalez made his competitive debut for the side on 28 July 2006 in the 1–1 draw with AC Ajaccio and started each of the club's first 13 games of the season. He scored his first Niort goal in the 2–2 draw against SM Caen on 15 September. He kept his place in the team and netted his second goal for the club two months later in the 2–0 win over LB Châteauroux. On 9 February 2007, Gonzalez scored the winner after coming on as a substitute in the 3–2 win against Stade de Reims. He ended the season with three goals in seven matches as Niort finished 16th in the division to secure their Ligue 2 status for another season. In his first season with Niort, Gonzalez had scored six goals in 33 games, his highest number of goals in a season at the time.

Gonzalez retained his place in the Niort first-team for the start of the 2007–08 season. He scored the only goal of the match in the 1–0 win against Montpellier on 24 August 2007. However, he suffered two broken ribs in the match and had to be replaced by Djibril Konaté at half time. The injury forced him to spend more than two months out of the side, returning to the team for the 0–1 loss to Clermont Foot on 2 November. Gonzalez scored only once between November 2007 and May 2008 as Niort struggled in the league, occupying a relegation place for some part of the season. He netted his first goal in over eight months when he scored the third in a 3–0 win against Dijon on 2 May 2008. He was on the scoresheet again in the following match, opening the scoring in the 2–0 victory over Ajaccio. Niort entered the final match of the season against US Boulogne requiring a win or a draw to avoid relegation. Gonzalez was booked in the game and replaced by Benoît Leroy in the 68th minute while the match was still goalless. The team appeared to have done enough, but Boulogne scored in the third minute of injury time to relegate Niort to the Championnat National, meaning that Gonzalez would play in the third tier of French football for the first time in his career.

With the perceived goal threat of Gonzalez and new signing Luigi Glombard, Niort were widely expected to return to Ligue 2 after one season in the National. However, the team found it difficult to score goals and win matches. Despite appearing in almost every match, Gonzalez did not score a goal for the team until 3 April 2009, when he scored in the 3–0 win against FC Sète. Niort slipped further towards the bottom of the table, although Gonzalez did get on the scoresheet in the 2–0 away win against SO Cassis Carnoux on 16 May 2009. He was left out of the side for the final match of the campaign away at Pacy Vallée-d'Eure needing a win to stay in the National. However, Niort could only manage a 0–0 draw, meaning they would be relegated to the Championnat de France amateur (CFA) for the first time since 1970. Despite the relegation, he signed a new contract with Niort to keep him at the club until the summer of 2011. In the first match of the 2009–10 season, Gonzalez scored twice in the 3–0 win against Bordeaux Réserve—the first time he had ever scored two goals in one game. After a nine-match streak without a goal, he then netted in the 3–1 victory over Balma SC before scoring three in two matches against Vendée Luçon Football and Pau FC. Gonzalez achieved four goals in five league matches between 13 March and 10 April 2010. He then scored in the 4–0 win over Pau on 8 May 2010, which confirmed that Niort would be crowned winners of the CFA Group C and gain promotion back to the Championnat National.

Gonzalez scored twice in the side's first match back in the third tier, a 3–2 home win against Rodez on 6 August 2010. He remained an integral part of the Niort team, playing a total of 37 league and cup matches during the 2010–11 campaign. He scored three goals during the final month of the campaign, including two in consecutive matches against Plabennec and Beauvais, and the opening goal in the 2–0 victory against UJA Alfortville on the penultimate matchday, as the team secured an 11th-place finish. Gonzalez carried his form into the 2011–12 season, scoring nine goals in the opening 18 games of the campaign, including two in the 3–0 win against Besançon on 11 November. However, following the winter break, he began to be used more as a substitute, coming on in the last 15 minutes of matches, and he failed to score during the second half of the season as Niort finished as Championnat National runners-up behind Nîmes Olympique, thereby regaining their place in Ligue 2 after four seasons away. In the higher division, Gonzalez was used sparingly by manager Pascal Gastien during the first half of the campaign, making only three starts. He struggled to secure a place in the team thanks to the emergence of new signings such as Greg Houla and the good form of Simon Hébras and in September 2012 he revealed that he would almost certainly retire at the end of the season. On 11 February 2013, Gonzalez announced his immediate retirement from professional football, stating that his interest in playing had waned and that the game had lost its pleasure for him.

Honours
Auxerre
Ligue 1 champions: 1995–96

Chamois Niortais
Championnat de France amateur Group C winners: 2009–10
Championnat National runners-up: 2011–12

France Under-19
UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship winners: 1996

References
General

Arnaud Gonzalez profile at chamoisfc79.fr
Specific

1977 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Dijon
French men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
AJ Auxerre players
AS Beauvais Oise players
En Avant Guingamp players
Chamois Niortais F.C. players
Ligue 1 players
Ligue 2 players
Footballers from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Arnaud Gonzalez


ModPlug Player is a module file player developed by Olivier Lapicque in conjunction with the original ModPlug Tracker project and the ModPlug Browser plugin. Features include a playlist editor, graphical equalizer, automatic gain control, bass expansion, reverb, Dolby Surround Sound support and the ability to mix two modules simultaneously and to change their pitch and tempo. The player supports a variety of module music files in both native and compressed (ZIP / RAR / LHA) formats.

The software was originally developed along with ModPlug Tracker, now known as OpenMPT, and modernized ModPlug engine is now used for decoding module files in the open source multimedia framework GStreamer under the name libmodplug.

See also

 List of Amiga music format players
 MOD
 List of music software

References

Music software

ModPlug Player


Alekséy Yevgényevich Chichibábin () was a Soviet/Russian organic chemist, born , Kuzemin village, current Sumy Oblast, Ukraine, died in Paris, France, 15 August 1945. His name is also written Alexei Yevgenievich Chichibabin and Alexei Euguenievich Tchitchibabine.

Life
Chichibábin was born at Kuzemin on March 17, 1871.  He studied at the University of Moscow from 1888 until 1892, and received his PhD from the University of Saint Petersburg. In 1896, Chichibáin married Vera Vladimirovna as his wife. He became a professor at the Imperial College of Technology in Moscow in 1909, and remained there until 1929. After losing his daughter Natacha, a chemist, to an industrial oleum accident (explosion) that he deemed preventable, Chichibábin moved to Paris where he remained despite threat of and eventual stripping of his Soviet citizenship and his position in the Academy of Sciences (1936, Academy standing restored posthumously, 1990). In 1931 he began working at the Collège de France, remaining until his death in 1945, but also serving over parts of the same period as the director of research at French dye and fine chemical manufacturer Établissement Kuhlmann, and as an advisor to the Schering and Roosevelt Co. of New York.

Chichibábin and his wife, Vera Vladmirovna Tchitchibabine, had one child, a daughter who became a chemist. Chichibábin died in 1945 and was buried at the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery near Paris.

Scientific work

Chichibábin is associated with the development of several important organic chemical reactions. One is a novel terpyridine synthesis, the Chichibabin pyridine synthesis. The other reactions are the Bodroux-Chichibabin aldehyde synthesis and the Chichibabin reaction.

Chichibábin authored the two-volume Osnovnye nachala organicheskoy khimii (Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry), which first appeared in 1924, a principal university-level chemistry textbooks in the Soviet Union that went through 7 Russian editions and was translated into Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, French, Spanish, English, and Chinese. An edition of the book was dedicated to Chichibábin's daughter, Natacha, who was killed by an oleum explosion in a chemical production factory in 1930.

Chichibábin won the Lenin Prize in 1926.

References

Bibliography

1871 births
1945 deaths
Burials at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
Recipients of the Lenin Prize
Chemists from the Russian Empire
Soviet inventors
Soviet chemists
20th-century chemists
Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Soviet emigrants to France
Imperial Moscow University alumni
Russian scientists

Aleksei Chichibabin


Vakıf Museum () is an ethnography museum in Ankara, Turkey exhibiting endowed articles.

The museum is on Atatürk Boulevard in Ankara. It is to the south of Melike Hatun Mosque and to the east of Gençlik Parkı, the largest park of Ankara. Some of the other museums of Ankara such as Stamp Museum, Ethnography Museum of Ankara and State Art and Sculpture Museum are nearby. The museum building was built as a school building. It is an example of First national architectural movement of Turkey. Between 1928 and 1941 it was used by the School of Law and after 1941, it was used as the Girls' vocational school. In 2004 it was restored and on 7 May 2007 it was opened as a museum.

Exhibitions
Vakıf means "charitable foundation" and the museum is dedicated to ethnographic endowments. In the ground floor, rugs and carpets as well as various tools in carpet weaving are exhibited. In the upper floor, hand written books, tiles, metal and wooden items are on display. Relatively more recent items such as clocks and 19th-century cameras are also a part of the museum collection.

Gallery

External links
 100+ pictures

References

Museums in Altındağ, Ankara
2007 establishments in Turkey
Culture of Turkey
Museums established in 2007
Ethnographic museums in Turkey

Ankara Vakıf Museum


Chingleput district was a district in the Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the area of the present-day districts of Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur and parts of Chennai city. It was sub-divided into six taluks with a total area of 7,970 square kilometres (3,079 sq mi). The first capital was the town of Karunguzhi, with an interruption between 1825 and 1835, administrative headquarters were transferred to Kanchipuram. In 1859 the region of Saidapet, now a neighbourhood in the city of Chennai, was made the administrative headquarters of the district.

History
Excavations made by Robert Bruce Foote indicate that the region was inhabited in the Stone age. During the end of first millennium B. C, it was under the Thondaiman kings. The Pallavas with their capital at Kanchi came to power in about 500 A. D. When the Pallava kingdom began to decline, the region was conquered by the Western Gangas in about 760 A. D. Chingleput was ruled by the Rashtrakutas, Cholas and the Kakatiyas of Warangal until the 13th century AD when it fell to the Delhi Sultanate. Chingleput area was conquered by the Vijayanagar Empire which ruled the region from 1393 till 1565 and from 1565 till 1640 as the kingdom of Chandragiri.

The area was annexed by the Mughals in 1687 and was later conquered by the Nawab of the Carnatic. In 1763, Chingleput was ceded to the British East India Company by Mohammad Ali, the then Nawab of the Carnatic. It was the site of the Carnatic Wars and was frequently taken by Tipu Sultan during the last years of the 18th century.After the independence of India, the district became part in 1950 of the newly named Madras State. As a result of the 1956 States Reorganisation Act, the state's boundaries were re-organised following linguistic lines.

Population
As of 1901, Chingleput had a total population of 1,312,222. 96 percent of the population were Hindus while the rest where Christians and Muslims. About three-fourths of the people spoke Tamil as their mother tongue the remainder spoke Telugu. Due to its proximity to Madras city, there were also large numbers of Europeans in the district.

References

Districts of Madras Presidency

Chingleput District (Madras Presidency)


Culture diffusion refers to the spread of cultural traits or patterns from one society or group of people to another. This process can occur through various means, such as migration, trade, communication, or technological advancements.

For example, the diffusion of Buddhism from India to other parts of Asia is an example of cultural diffusion. Another example could be the spread of American fast food chains, such as McDonald's, to different parts of the world, where they have adapted their menus to local tastes.

Cultural diffusion can lead to the blending of different cultures and the creation of new cultural forms, such as creole languages or fusion cuisine. However, it can also result in the loss of traditional cultural practices and the homogenization of global cultures.

Cultural diffusion


Tor Røste Fossen (19 June 1940 – 7 August 2017) was a Norwegian football player and coach. He played for Rosenborg from 1964 to 1971, earning two Norwegian Premier League titles and one Norwegian Cup championship. He coached several Norwegian clubs besides coaching the Norway national football team during ten years 1978–1987.

Biography
Fossen grew up in Engerdal and Vågå. He came to Trondheim in 1962 where he played as goalkeeper in Rosenborg. Until 1969 Fossen played 55 matches in the top division. In 1970 a new goalkeeper, Geir Karlsen, arrived at Rosenborg, and Fossen was benched. He then became assistant coach under George Curtis, and in 1972 head coach together with Nils Arne Eggen coaching Rosenborg to the double, winning both the league and the cup titles. Fossen continued without Eggen 1973–1974, and the team became second both in the league and in the cup 1973. Fossen coached Start 1975–1977 to bronze medal in the league 1975. Besides this Fossen also coached Norway national team for juniors 1972–1976.

From 1978 to 1987 Fossen coached the Norway national football team. One of the victories in Fossen's time as Norway manager was the 2–1 win against England in the 1982 World cup qualification. This victory is eternalized by radio reporter Bjørge Lillelien. Fossen coached Norway in the 1984 Olympics.

Later Fossen coached Frigg Oslo, together with Hallvar Thoresen, Faaberg, and Strømsgodset, together with Einar Sigmundstad, winning the 1991 Norwegian Football Cup, beating Rosenborg 3–1 in the final. His last post as a coach was in Frigg Oslo before taking over other managerial tasks in the club. Fossen retired 2007.

Honours

Player
Rosenborg
Norwegian top division: 1967, 1969
Norwegian Cup: 1971

Coach
Strømsgodset
Norwegian Cup: 1991

References

1940 births
2017 deaths
People from Østre Toten
Men's association football goalkeepers
Norwegian men's footballers
Rosenborg BK players
Eliteserien players
Norwegian football managers
Rosenborg BK non-playing staff
Rosenborg BK managers
IK Start managers
Norway national football team managers
Frigg Oslo FK managers
Strømsgodset Toppfotball managers
Eliteserien managers

Footballers from Innlandet

Tor Røste Fossen