Tips for using the St. Mary's website 'Search' function

Currently 388 pages on this website may be searched for a word or a combination of words. This includes pages on the main website and pages of Outlook magazine. The index is updated whenever the site content changes so that it is always up-to-date.

The search function is available from any page on the main website (not Outlook pages) using the Search box and button at the top right of the page. Simply type what you want to find in the box and click the Search button (or the 'enter' key).

How to specify what you want to search for.

To search for a single word^* just type it in. (Note: '-' (minus or hyphen), 'OR' or 'NEAR' (in upper case) have special significance (see below).

^*You can specify 'wildcards' using '*' to represent any characters. For example "fre*" returns all pages containing any word beginning with "fre".

To search for pages containing all the words in a phrase (in any order) just type it in. For example entering to be a pilgrim returns all pages containing the words "to", "be", "a", and "pilgrim".

To search for pages containing an exact phrase just type in the phrase surrounded by double quotes ("). For example entering "to be a pilgrim" returns all pages containing the phrase "to be a pilgrim".

To search for pages containing some words but not others type in the words you want in the normal way then type in the words you want to exclude each preceded by '-'. For example entering "to -be a pilgrim" returns all pages containing the words "to", "a", and "pilgrim" and not "be".

To search for pages containing a phrase with alternative words type in the words you want with the alternative words separated by 'OR' (must be in upper case). For example entering "to be a pilgrim OR saint" returns all pages containing the words "to", "be", "a", and either "pilgrim" or "saint" or both.

To search for pages containing words in close proximity to each other type in the words you want separated by 'NEAR' (must be in upper case). For example entering "holy NEAR baptism" returns all pages containing the words "holy" and "baptism" with 10^* or less other words between them.

^*You can specify a different number of intervening words by using '/<N>', where <N> is the maximum number of intervening words. For example "holy NEAR/0 baptism" specifies that "holy and "baptism" must be adjacent.

Happy hunting!