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catch English round, or simple perpetual canon, for three or more unac¬ companied voices. Catches were sung by men as a popular pastime in the 16th-19th centuries. Catch texts were often humorous or ribald, and in some instances a pause in the melody in one voice was filled in by the notes and text of another, creating a pun or change of meaning, especially in the late-17th-century Restoration period.
Cateau-Cambresis \ka-to-ka I1 -bra- , ze\ / Treaty of (April 3, 1559) Agreement marking the end of the 65-year struggle (1494-1559) between France and Spain for the control of Italy. France gave up its claims to Italian territory, leaving Habsburg Spain the dominant power there. France returned Savoy and Piedmont to Spain’s ally Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy (1528-80) and restored Corsica to Genoa. Elsewhere, France retained Calais, which it had seized from England in 1558, and the bish¬ oprics of Toul, Metz, and Verdun, taken from Emperor Charles V.
catechesis See kerygma and catechesis
catechism Manual of religious instruction usually arranged in the form of questions and answers and used to instruct the young, win converts, and testify to the faith. The medieval catechism concentrated on the mean¬ ing of faith, hope, and charity. Later catechisms added other subjects and became more important following the Reformation and the invention of the printing press. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism (1529) added discus¬ sions of baptism and the Eucharist. John Calvin published a children’s cat¬ echism in 1542. The Anglican catechism is included in the Book of Common Prayer. The Baltimore Catechism (1885) is the Catholic cat¬ echism best known in the U.S. In 1992 the Vatican issued a new univer¬ sal Catechism of the Catholic Church.
catecholamine \ l ka-t3- , ko-b-,men\ Any naturally occurring amine functioning as a neurotransmitter or hormone, including dopamine, norepi¬ nephrine, and epinephrine. All are derived from tyrosine and have a catechol group (benzene ring with two hydroxyl groups) with an attached amine group. Neurons in the brain, in the adrenal gland, and in some sympa¬ thetic nerve fibres produce different catecholamines.
categorical imperative In Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy, an imperative that presents an action as unconditionally necessary (e.g., “Thou shalt not kill”), as opposed to an imperative that presents an action as necessary only on condition that the agent wills something else (e.g., “Pay your debts on time, if you want to be able to obtain a mortgage”). Kant held that there was only one formally categorical imperative, from which all specific moral imperatives could be derived. In one famous formulation, it is: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” See also deontological ethics.
categorical proposition In syllogistic, a proposition in which the predicate is affirmed or denied of all or part of the subject. Thus, cat¬ egorical propositions are of four basic forms: “Every S is P,” “No S is P,” “Some S is P,” and “Some S is not P.” These are designated by the letters A, E, I, and O, respectively; thus, “Every man is mortal” is an A-proposition. Categorical propositions are to be distinguished from com¬ pound and complex propositions, into which they can enter as integral terms. In particular, they contrast especially with hypothetical proposi¬ tions, such as “If every man is mortal, then Socrates is mortal.”
caterpillar Larva of a butterfly or moth. Caterpillars have a cylindrical body consisting of 13 segments, with three pairs of legs on the thorax and “prolegs” on the abdomen. The head has six eyes on each side, short antennae, and strong jaws. Though not true worms, many caterpillars are called worms (e.g., the inchworm, or looper, and the cutworm). Caterpillar-like larvae are also found in other insect groups (e.g., sawflies and scorpionflies).
catfish Any of about 2,500 species of scale-less, mostly freshwater, fishes (order Siluriformes) related to carp and minnows and named for their whiskerlike barbels (fleshy feelers). All species have at least one pair of barbels on the upper jaw, and some have a pair on the snout and addi¬ tional pairs on the chin. Many species possess spines that may be asso¬ ciated with venom glands. Found almost worldwide, they are generally bottom-dwelling scavengers that feed on almost any kind of plant or ani¬ mal matter. Species vary from 1.5 in. to 15 ft (4 cm-4.5 m) long and may weigh up to 660 lbs (300 kg). Many small species are popular aquarium fishes; many large species are used for food.
Cathari Vka-tho-.rA or Albigensians \al-b9-'jen-se-onz\ Heretical Christian sect that flourished in Western Europe in the 12th—13th century.
The Cathari adhered to the dualist belief that the material world is evil and that humans must renounce the world to free their spirits, which are good and long for communion with God. Jesus was seen as an angel whose human suffering and death were an illusion. Followers divided themselves into the “perfect,” who had to maintain the highest moral standards, and ordinary “believers,” of whom less was expected. By 1200 they had established 11 bishoprics in France and Italy. In an effort to stamp out their heresy, Pope Innocent III declared the Albigensian Crusade, in which the populace in Cathar regions was indiscriminately massacred. Persecution through the Inquisition, sanctioned by St. Louis IX, was even more effective, and when the Cathar stronghold of Montsegur fell in 1244, most Cathari fled to Italy. The movement disappeared in the 15th century.
catharsis \k3-'thar-s3s\ Purging or purification of emotions through art. The term is derived from the Greek katharsis (“purgation,” “cleansing”), a medical term used by Aristotle as a metaphor to describe the effects of dramatic tragedy on the spectator: by arousing vicarious pity and terror, tragedy directs the spectator’s own anxieties outward and, through sym¬ pathetic identification with the tragic protagonist, purges them.
Cathay \ka-'tha\ Former name for China, especially northern China. The word is derived from Khitay, the name of a seminomadic people who dominated northern China in the 10th— 12th century. By the time of Geng¬ his Khan, the Mongols had begun referring to northern China as Kitai (still the Russian word for China). The name may have been introduced to Europe by returning Franciscan friars c. 1254, but it was Marco Polo’s Travels 50 years later that put Cathay’s image before the European public.
cathedral Church, often large and magnificent, in which a residential bishop has his official seat. Cathedrals are usually embellished versions of early Christian basilicas; their construction, on an ever-larger scale, was a major preoccupation throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. Masonry vaulting replaced the earlier timber roofs, and the basilican plan grew more complex. Above the arches of the nave, and below the clerestory, was the triforium, an arcaded upper story that often contained vaulted tri¬ bune galleries open to the nave. The portion containing seats for the choir, usually east of the transept, was called the chancel. Between the chancel and the sanctuary (high altar) was the presbytery, a raised area occupied only by clergy. The chapter house, a popular feature of English cathe¬ drals, was a chamber, typically octagonal, in which business was trans¬ acted. Small chapels, including the founder’s chantry and the Lady Chapel (dedicated to the Virgin Mary) were often added. Many cathedrals of the Ile-de-France region were remodeled to embody a chevet, or arc of radi¬ ating chapels, on the eastern wall, a feature reflected in England in West¬ minster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.