Lectionary Calendar

Wednesday, December 4th, 2024
the First Week of Advent

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Historical Writings

Today in Christian History

749

Death of Greek Orthodox theologian and poet John of Damascus near Jerusalem. The last great doctor of the Greek church, he had been a strong defender of the use of icons.

963

A Roman synod deposes wicked Pope John XII. He had been just eighteen years old when elected.

1093

St. Anselm is consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. He had fashioned the ontological argument for God's existence and is often credited with being the father of scholasticism.

1154

Adrian IV, 54, was elected to the papacy. Born Nicholas Breakspear, near St. Albans, England, he was the only Englishman ever elevated to the office of pope.

1532

Drops of molten silver injure the Shroud of Turin during a fire.

1674

French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette erected a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan, in present-day Illinois. His log cabin became the first building of a settlement that afterward grew to become the city of Chicago.

1809

The International Bible Society was founded in New York City as an interdenominational agency for translating, producing and distributing the Scriptures. The I.B.S. has since distributed the Bible to over 150 countries in the world.

1854

Birth of Mary Reed, American Methodist missionary. She died in 1943, having spent the last 52 years of her life ministering to the lepers of India.

1896

Death from fever of Peter Cameron Scott in Kenya. The founder of the African Inland Mission he is not yet thirty.

1917

All ecclesiastical property in Russia is confiscated.

1942

Death of Roland Victor Bingham, who persistently attempted to evangelize the Sudan between 1893 and 1902, and co-founded the Sudan Interior Mission.

1964

Medical missionary Dr. Paul Carlson appears on the cover of Time magazine. He had become a symbol for events in the Congo when he was seized by Simba rebels who executed him.

1966

Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'The good Lord, in spite of reports to the contrary, is not dead.'

1972

President Idi Amin ousts fifty missionaries from Uganda, charging that they have connections with Israel and South Africa.

Copyright Statement
© 1987-2020, William D. Blake. Portions used by permission of the author, from "Almanac of the Christian Church"

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