M7 Priest

The 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 was an American self-propelled artillery vehicle produced during World War II. It was given the official service name 105 mm Self Propelled Gun, Priest by the British Army, due to the pulpit-like machine gun ring, and following on from the Bishop and the contemporary Deacon self-propelled guns.

History

Witnessing the events of the war, U.S. Army observers realized that they would need a self-propelled artillery vehicle with sufficient firepower to support armored operations. Lessons learned with half-tracks (such as the T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage (HMC) with a 105mm howitzer the on M3 Half-track chassis) also showed that this vehicle would have to be armored and fully tracked. It was decided to use the M3 Lee chassis as the basis for this new vehicle design, which was designated T32.

The pilot vehicles used the M3 chassis with an open-topped superstructure, mounting an M1A2 105 mm howitzer and, following trials, adding a machine gun, the T32 was accepted for service as the M7 in February 1942 and production began that April. Before production had begun, the British Tank Mission had requested 2,500 to be delivered by the end of 1942 and a further 3,000 by the end of 1943, an order which was never fully completed.

Priest

A priest or priestess (feminine) (from Greek πρεσβύτερος presbýteros through Latin presbyter, "elder", or from Old High German priast, prest, from Vulgar Latin "prevost" "one put over others", from Latin praepositus "person placed in charge"), is a person authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the priesthood, a term which also may apply to such persons collectively.

Priesthood (Catholic Church)

The ministerial orders of the Roman Catholic Church are those of bishop, presbyter (more commonly called priest in English), and deacon. The ordained priesthood and the common priesthood (or priesthood of all the baptized faithful) are different in function and essence. The Catholic Church teaches that when a man participates in priesthood, he participates in the priesthood of Christ Himself. All men who, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, have become priests participate in Christ's priesthood; they act in persona Christi Capitis, in the person of Christ, the Head of His Body, the Church.

Unlike usage in English, "the Latin words sacerdos and sacerdotium are used to refer in general to the ministerial priesthood shared by bishops and presbyters. The words presbyter, presbyterium and presbyteratus refer to priests in the English use of the word or presbyters." In late 2008, there were 409,166 Catholic priests of the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches worldwide. A priest of the regular clergy is commonly addressed with the title "Father", abbreviated Fr., in the Roman Catholic and some other Christian churches.

Priest (disambiguation)

A priest is a person who holds an office in a religion, for example an Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic priest, Hindu priest, an Imam in Islam, or a Kohen in Judaism.

Priest may also refer to: