Regina Cceli | Lai. for Queen of heaven), an appel- lation often given by the ancient Romans to Juno.
Region-round-about, tin-: (// jrepi'xwpoc). This term had perhaps originally a more precise and inde- pendent meaning than it appears to a reader of the A. V. to possess. It is used by the Sept. as the equivalent of the singular Hebrew word hak-kikkdr ("in, literally ••the round"), a word the topographical application of which i- not dear, hut which seems in its earliest oc- currences to denote the circle or oasis of cultivation in which stood Sodom and Gomorrah and the rest of the live "cities of the Ciccarn (Gen.xiii, 10 12; xix. 17. ■_'.">. '_>*. 29; Dent, xxxiv, :!). Elsewhere it has a wider
meaning, tl gh still attached to the .Ionian (2 Sam.
xviii, 23; 1 Kings vii, hi: 2Chron.iv,17; Neh. iii, 22; xii. 28). It is in this less restricted sense that -f-oi- OCCUrs in the New Test. In Malt. iii. 5 and I. nke iii.;; n denotes the populous and nourishing re- gion which contained the towns of Jericho and its de- pendencii - in the Jordan valley, enclosed in the amphi- theatre of ii,,- hills of Quarantana, a densely populated region, and important enough to be reckoned as a dis- tinct -ecu.,,, ,; Palestine "Jerusalem, Judaea, and all the arrondissement of Jordan" (Matt, iii, 5; also Luke vii. 17 i. It is al-o applied to the district of Gennesaret, a region which presents certain similarities to that of Jericho, b< ii ' enclosed in the amphitheatre of the hills
of Ilatlin anil hounded in front by the water of the lake.
as iii, other «as by the Jordan, and also resembling it in being very thickly populated (Matt, xiv, 35; Mark vi. 55: Luke vi, 37; vii, 17).— Smith. It is perhaps
nearly equivalent to the modern Arabic appellation of the O'hur. See Topographical Terms.
Regionarii, one of the three classes of subdeacona at Rome, appointed in the 11th century, and employed in various occupations in the several regiones or districts of that city. The other classes were called Palatini (q.v.) and Stationakii (q.v.).
Regis, Jean Bapi i-h di . a French Jesuit ami ge- ographer, was horn at Istrcs. in Provence, about If'.''-",, and was sent as a missionary to China about 1700. His scientific attainments gained him a place at court and the favor of the emperor Hang-he, who. in 17o7. placed him at the head "t a commission of Jesuits to make a survey and draw up a ma], of the Chinese empire. His labors were interrupted in 1724 when the emperor Yung-ching proscribed the Christian religion. He wrote a full history of hi- labors, a . ondensation of which may be found in Du Halde's Description <1, /,, Chine. He translated into Latin the Yih-king, edited by Julius Mold (Stuttgart and Tubingen, 1834, 2 vols!). The MS. is in the National Library, l'aris.
Registers. See Diptychs.
Registers <>i < Irdination were first ordered to be presen ed in 1237 in the bishop's house or in the cathe- dral.
Registers, Parish, were required to be kept as a record of baptisms, marriages, and burials in 1538 by Cromwell, by the royal injunctions of 1547, and i lie 70th Canon of lint."..
Regium Donum, a sum of money annually al- lowed by government to dissenting ministers. It orig- inated in a donation, made in the way of royal bounty. by George II, in the year 17'.':;. consisting of £500, to be paid out of the treasury, for assisting first of all the w idow >. and afterwards either ministers or their widows, who wanted help. The lirst motion for it was made by Mr. Daniel Burgess, who had for some time been secre- tary to the princess of Wales, and was approved by lord Townshend, secretary of state, and Sir Robert Walpole, chancellor of the exchequer, who entered readily into the measure because the Ih-sentirs proved themselves very friendly to the house of Brunswick, and he wished to reward them for their loyalty. When the money was paid, a strict charge was given that the matter should he kept very secret Some few years after, the sum was raised to £850 half-yearly: and at present, though no longer a regium donum, it is still annually granted by Parliament, amounting to about t'oiMin. but including the relief granted t.. "Poor French refugee clergy, poor French Protestant laity, and sundry small charitable and other allowances to the poor of St. Mar- tin's-in-the-Fields. and others." — Buck, Theol. 1
REGIUM DONUM, Irish, a pecuniary grant, voted annually by the British Parliament, out of the national exchequer, t.. aid certain bodies of Presbyterians in Ire- land by providing stipends for their ministers. This grant, which now amounts to about tin. nun a year, is divided among six different bodies of Presbyterians, viz. : 1. The ( .eneral Assembly, comprising the two bod- ies formerly known as the Synod of Ulster and the Synod of Seceders. 2. The Secession Synod. :;. The Remon- strants, or Unitarian Synod of Ulster. 1. The Presby- tery of Antrim. 5. The Synod of Minister. Unitarian. i',. The Presbytery of Minister, orthodox. During the reign of .lames I Presbyterianism was introduced int.. In land, and under the mild sway of l -h, r their clergy- men became incumbents of parishes, and were permitted i,, enjoj tithes and other emoluments. Put after the accession ofCharles II they were wholly dependent upon