Historical Writings

Death in Constantinople of the Novatianist bishop Paul, who was so highly regarded that all sects and parties, including the Orthodox archbishop, will unite in singing psalms at his funeral.

Andrew, archbishop of Carniola, nails a formal arraignment of Pope Sixtus IV to the cathedral doors in Basel, and demands a council. The pope excommunicates him and he is soon found dead in prison.

Girolamo Savonarola is summoned to Rome to answer charges, but he refuses to leave Florence, where he is undertaking reforms.

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland passes an act that says no minister, even if licensed, may be admitted to a congregation without the consent of the General Assembly.

Clement XIV issued the brief, 'Dominus ac redemptor noster,' officially dissolvingthe Society of Jesus (Jesuits). This politically-based suppression afterward leftconspicuous gaps in Catholic education and foreign missions.

Birth of public school teacher Priscilla Jane Owens. A Methodist who remained inBaltimore all her life, she left behind two enduring hymns: 'We Have an Anchor' and 'JesusSaves.'

Death from malaria of Melville Cox, missionary to Liberia, who had said, "Let a thousand fall before Africa be given up!" He had been the first missionary sent by the Methodists of America.

The cardinal's hat was conferred upon Elzear Alexandre Taschereau, 66, archbishopof Quebec. He was the first Canadian to be made a cardinal in the Catholic Church.

Death at Rostock, Germany, of Michael Baumgarten, a theologian and active promoter of free church life.

Albert Schweitzer, who will become a famed theologian and missionary, is licensed in theology.

Following a sensational 12-day trial, high school biology teacher John T. Scopeswas found guilty of teaching evolution in his Dayton, TN classroom and was fined $100.

Methodist bishop Garfield Bromley Oxnam voluntarily appears before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and expressed outrage that he was suspected of communism, declaring he had spoken against it all his life. He had probably fallen under suspicion because his social activism brought him into contact with other suspected individuals.

English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'What the devil loves is thatvague cloud of unspecified guilt or unspecified virtue, by which he lures us into despairor presumption.'

Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli is struck by a train and dies. A Congregationalist, he had been at the forefront of resistance to Apartheid in South Africa, an effort he tied to his Christian beliefs: "The road to freedom is via the cross." He had been the Nobel Peace Prize winner six years earlier.

Israeli authorities arrest Oded Golan, an antiquities dealer, whom they accuse of forging the inscription on the James ossuary. The charges will later be dropped and many archaeologists will remain convinced the object is authentic because of the old patina (a surface film caused by oxidation) in its letters.