Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, September 8th, 2024
the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Historical Writings
Today in Christian History
Sunday, September 8
70
Following a six-month siege, Jerusalem surrendered to the 60,000 troops of Titus' Roman army. Over a million Jewish citizens perished in the siege and, following the city's capture, another 97,000 were sold into slavery.
1565
The parish of St. Augustine, Florida, was founded by Father Don Martin Francisco Lopez de Mendozo Grajales, chaplain to the conquering Spanish forces. It became the first and oldest Roman Catholic parish established in America.
1636
Harvard College (later University) was founded by the Massachusetts Puritans at New Towne. It was the first institution of higher learning established in North America, and was originally founded to train future ministers.
1741
Lutheran missionary Johann Philipp Fabricius arrives in India where he will work among the Tamil people, revising the Tamil Bible and publishing a hymnbook.
1845
Oxford Movement leader, John Henry Newman, 44, resigned from the Church of England -- convinced that it had severed itself from its ancient episcopal moorings and true apostolic succession -- and became a Roman Catholic.
1890
Thérèse of Lisieux pronounces her vows to become a Carmelite nun.
1907
Pope Pius X announces that modernism is heresy.
1928
Pius XI issued the encyclical "Rerum Orientalium," promoting study of the history, doctrine and liturgy of Eastern Orthodoxy. He recommended that priests apply themselves to special studies at the Oriental Institute in Rome, founded in 1917 by Benedict XV.
1943
The Russian Orthodox Church convenes a council that elects Sergius as Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. Because of Communist suppression, the church had been without a patriarch for many years. Needing church support because of the war with Hitler, Stalin had authorized the council, which will also reopen seminaries.
1947
C. S. Lewis appears on the cover of Time magazine.
1955
Shanghai's Bishop Ignatius Kung, forty priests, and three hundred lay leaders in the Chinese church are arrested over the course of two days.
2012
Release from Iranian prison of Youcef Nadarkhani, originally accused of apostasy for his own conversion from Islam to Christianity; following international outcry, he is charged instead with evangelizing Muslims.
Copyright Statement
© 1987-2020, William D. Blake. Portions used by permission of the author, from "Almanac of the Christian Church"
© 1987-2020, William D. Blake. Portions used by permission of the author, from "Almanac of the Christian Church"
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