Historical Writings

Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, 52, returned to England after six years of exile in France. (Becket would be martyred on December 29th of this year killed by soldiers sent by his former friend, English King Henry II.)

Death of the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier in China, where he had contracted a fever while awaiting permission to preach. He had been one of the founding members of his order and a soul winner from Portugal to Japan.

Under the leadership of John Knox, Protestants in Scotland sign their First Covenant at Edinburgh, uniting Presbyterians under the name: "Congregation of the Lord."

Torture and execution of Gabriel, the Orthodox metropolitan of Ganos and administrator of Prousa. Jews had accused him of baptizing a Muslim convert into the Christian faith. He could have escaped torture by converting to Islam but refused to deny his faith.

Death of hymn writer Aemilie Juliane of Schaumburg. She had written about six hundred hymns, including "The Lord Hath Helped Me Hitherto."

Presbyterian Caleb Mills organizes the first classes of Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana, with twelve young men. Earlier, as an agent for a Sabbath-schools in Kentucky and Indiana he had become familiar with the educational needs of the region and determined to undertake a campaign for schools.

Daniel Lindley leaves Boston for South Africa, where he will do notable work as a missionary.

Birth of Clara H. Scott, American music teacher and composer. A contributor to the collections published by Horatio R. Palmer, she is best remembered today as author and composer of the hymn, "Open My Eyes, That I May See."

Baptists in Liberia accept two churches formed by African American missionary Harrison N. Bouey into their conference. The members had migrated with him from the United States.

John Byington, early leader of the Seventh-day Adventists, and president of their first General Conference in 1863, writes, "This is a day of comfort and peace. I have felt my sins were very many; have asked and found mercy of the Saviour, and would declare His loving-kindness to all."

Birth of Mitsuo Fuchida, the pilot who flew the lead plane in Japan's air attack on Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941). Following WWII, through representatives of the Pocket Testament League, Fuchida was converted to Christianity in 1950.

(Probable date) Miserable after burning a Bible, Sundar Singh sees a vision of Christ. The teenager will immediately begin to preach the gospel to others at great risk to himself and be poisoned and expelled from his home.

Birth of C.F.D. Moule, Anglican clergyman and New Testament scholar. He authored numerous autographs on Biblical studies, including "The Phenomenology of the New Testament" (1967).

Death of Mok Lai Chi, a Chinese Pentecostal evangelist, educator, and editor.

In Chicago, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) was formally organized. The bulk of membership derived from former affiliates of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church.

Execution in Iran of Assemblies of God pastor Hossmein Soodmand, who had refused to leave his country and his Christian followers to work in a safer region of the world.

Hindus burn the Christu Sabha Church building in Tamil Nadu state, India, one of hundreds of incidents of Hindu persecution of Christians in India that occurred that year.