Saint Andrews, University of Oldest university in Scotland, founded in 1411 on the outskirts of St. Andrews. The university buildings include St. Salvator’s College (1450), St. Leonard’s College (1512;
merged with St. Salvator’s in 1747), and the University Library (1612). A third college, St. Mary’s (1537), has always taught theology exclu¬ sively. The medical and dental school became independent as the Uni¬ versity of Dundee in 1967.
Saint Augustine \'6-g3-,sten\ City (pop., 2000: 11,592), northeastern Florida, U.S. It is the oldest continuously settled U.S. city. In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon landed there in search of the Fountain of Youth and claimed the territory for Spain. It became part of the U.S. in 1821. The Castillo de San Marcos, now a national monument, is a symbol of the era of Span¬ ish control. During the American Revolution the city was a refuge for loy¬ alists, and during the Indian Wars it was the place of imprisonment for Osceola and other Seminoles. It is a winter and summer resort and a port on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The economy is based on tourism and fishing.
Saint Bartholomew's Day, Massacre of (Aug. 24-25, 1572) Murder of French Huguenots in Paris by Catholics. As part of the ongo¬ ing Wars of Religion, Catherine de Medicis agreed to a plot by the Guise family (see house of Guise) to assassinate the Huguenot Gaspard II de Coligny. When he was only wounded, Catherine feared discovery of her complicity and secretly urged faithful nobles to murder all the Huguenot leaders, who were in Paris for the wedding of the future Henry IV. The massacre began on August 24 and spread rapidly; after the leaders had been murdered, Huguenot homes and shops were pillaged and their occu¬ pants murdered and thrown into the Seine. Even after the royal order on August 25 to stop the killing, it continued and spread to Rouen, Lyon, Bourges, Orleans, and Bordeaux. By October, about 3,000 Huguenots had been murdered in Paris and probably tens of thousands more in the prov¬ inces.
Saint Basil the Blessed or Pokrovsky \po- l krof-ske\ Cathedral Church constructed at the southern end of Red Square in Moscow (1554- 60) by Ivan IV as a votive offering for his military victories over the Tatars. The brick-and-stone church was designed by the architects Postnik and Barma (who may in fact have been one person). It is a unique and mag¬ nificent architectural fantasy exhibiting Byzantine influences. Eight chap¬ els topped by onion domes surround a central church with a tower topped by a tent-shaped roof and a small golden cupola. Each of the painted domes differs in design and colour.
Saint Bernard Breed of rescue dog that saved about 2,500 people over 300 years of service at a hospice in Great St. Bernard pass in the Pen¬ nine Alps. Probably descended from MASTlFF-like dogs, it was brought to the hospice in the late 17th century. A powerful dog with a massive head and drooping ears, it stands at least 25 in. (65 cm) and weighs 110-200 lbs (50-90 kg). Its dense coat is red-brown and white or brindle and white and may be short or medium-long. The long-haired variety was produced by crosses with the Newfoundland in the early 19th century.
Saint Bernard Pass See Great St. Bernard Pass
Saint Bernard Pass, Little See Little St. Bernard Pass
Saint Christopher and Nevis See Saint Kitts-Nevis
Saint Clair, Lake Lake, west-central Tasmania, Australia. It is located at the southern boundary of Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park. It has an area of 11 sq mi (28 sq km) and an elevation of 2,417 ft (737 m) on Tasmania’s central plateau. Its maximum depth approaches 700 ft (215 m), making it Australia’s deepest lake.
Saint Clair, Lake Lake, forming part of the boundary between Michi¬ gan, U.S., and Ontario, Canada. Roughly circular, with an area of 467 sq mi (1,210 sq km), it connects with the St. Clair River and Lake Huron to the north and with the Detroit River and Lake Erie to the south. It is in a popular summer recreation area. Suburbs of Detroit lie on its western shore.
Saint-Cloud \se n -'klu\ porcelain Soft-paste porcelain made in Saint- Cloud, France, from the last quarter of the 17th century until 1766. Much of the yellowish or creamy off-white porcelain was influenced by late Ming Chinese white porcelain—hence the plum-blossom decoration molded in low relief and figures in the Chinese manner.
Saint Croix \'kroi\ Largest island (pop., 1990: 50,000) of the U.S. Vir¬ gin Islands. Located south of Saint Thomas, it has an area of 84 sq mi (218 sq km). Its capital is Christiansted; the town of Frederiksted is the com¬ mercial centre. In 1493 it was visited by Christopher Columbus, who named
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1666 I Saint-Denis ► Saint-John Perse
it Santa Cruz. In the mid-17th century it was colonized in turn by the Dutch, English, Spanish, and French. It was purchased by Denmark in 1733 and sold to the U.S. in 1917. In 1989 it was devastated by a hur¬ ricane but recovered with U.S. aid. Tourism is the main industry; rum is distilled and exported.
Saint-Denis \,se n -d3-'ne\ City (pop., 1999: 85,832), northern France. Now a suburb of Paris, until the mid-19th century it was only a small township centred on its famous abbey church, which had been the burial place of French kings. King Dagobert I founded the abbey in the 7th cen¬ tury and built it over the tomb of St. Denis, patron saint of France. Abbot Suger built there a new basilica which later transformed Western archi¬ tecture from the Romanesque to the Gothic; most late-12th-century French cathedrals, including Chartres, are based on that of Saint-Denis. Remark¬ able tombs found there include those of Louis XII, Anne of Brittany, Henry II, and Catherine de Medicis. The city is now an industrial centre.
Saint-Denis \,sa n -d3-'ne\ City (pop., 1999: 131,557), capital of the French overseas department of Reunion, in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in a basin at the mouth of the St.-Denis River on the northern coast of the island, wedged between the ocean and a mountain rising abruptly behind it. It was originally the main port of Reunion, but an artificial har¬ bour at Fe Port, on the northwestern coast, replaced it in the 1880s. It is primarily an administrative town.
Saint Elias \,3-'lI-3s\ Mountains Segment of the Pacific Coast Ranges in the southwestern Yukon Territory of Canada and eastern Alaska, U.S. The mountains extend southeast about 250 mi (400 km) from the Wrangell Mountains to Cross Sound along the Canada-U.S. border. Many peaks exceed 17,000 ft (5,200 km), including Mount St. Elias (18,008 ft [5,489 km]) and Mount Logan. In 1741 Vitus Bering sighted Mount St. Elias from his ship and became the first official European discoverer of northwestern America. The mountains contain the world’s most extensive ice fields outside the polar ice caps. The southern end of the range forms part of Glacier Bay National Park.
Saint Elmo's fire Glow accompanying the brushlike discharges of atmospheric electricity that usually appears as a tip of light on the extremi¬ ties of such pointed objects as church towers or the masts of ships during stormy weather. It is commonly accompanied by a crackling or fizzing noise. It is commonly observed on the periphery of propellers and along the wing tips, windshield, and nose of aircraft flying in dry snow, in ice crystals, or near thunderstorms. St. Elmo is an Italian corruption of St. Erasmus, patron saint of Mediterranean sailors, who traditionally regarded St. Elmo’s fire as a sign of his guardianship over them.
Saint-Exupery NsaMag-ziE-pa-'reV Antoine (-Marie-Roger) de
(b. June 29, 1900, Lyon, France—d. July 31, 1944, in flight over the Mediterranean) French aviator and writer. He flew as a commercial, test, and military reconnaissance pilot and was a publicity attache for Air France and a reporter. He died when he was shot down on a wartime Air Force mission over the Mediterranean. His writings exalt perilous adven¬ ture and aviation, as in the novels Southern Mail (1929) and Night Flight (1931). Wind, Sand, and Stars (1939) is a lyrical memoir with philosophi¬ cal musings and meditations. The Little Prince (1943) is a child’s fable for adults.