Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, September 28th, 2023
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
Historical Writings
Today in Christian History
Thursday, December 23
814
Magnentius Hrabanus Maurus, who will become one of the most brilliant scholars of his era, is ordained a priest.
1193
Death of Thorlac Thorhallssohn, founder of Iceland's first monastery.
1528
Two hundred citizens of Basel assemble and present a petition, drawn up by the reformer Oecolampadius, for the suppression of the mass.
1531
Heinrich Bullinger accepts the pulpit of Zurich, vacated by the death of Zwingli in battle.
1648
Birth of Robert Barclay, Scottish Quaker theologian. He published his most famous work, "An Apology for the True Christian Divinity," in 1676, making him the most prominent theologian in the early Quaker Church.
1652
Death of John Cotton, an eminent minister in colonial Massachusetts and "father of New England Congregationalism."
1736
In an Auto da fé (Act of faith) Inquisitor Cristóval Sánchez Calderón of Lima, Peru, burns Dona Ana de Castro alive, on the accusation of practicing a Jewish mourning ritual and other Jewish rituals that she did not consider in conflict with Christianity. The Inquisition also burns in effigy a Jesuit who had been suspected of practicing Quietism (a form of Christian mysticism tending toward passivity and annihilation of one's own will) and another Jesuit who may have been insane. They are burned in effigy because they had already died.
1790
Birth of Jean Francois Champollion, French Egyptologist. In 1822 he successfully decoded the hieroglyphics of the Rosetta Stone (uncovered in 1799), and is recognized today as the founder of modern Egyptology.
1841
Birth of Handley C.G. Moule, Anglican theologian. He succeeded B.F. Westcott in 1901 as Bishop of Durham. A profound scholar, he could nevertheless speak and write for ordinary people, and published commentaries on nearly all of Paul's letters in the New Testament.
1862
Birth of Amos R. Wells, American Christian educator. He was first editorial secretary of the newly organized Christian Endeavor Society (forerunner of modern church "youth fellowships") from 1891 until his death in 1933.
1873
Death of Sarah Grimké at West Newton, Massachusetts. She had been a sturdy opponent of slavery.
1897
Peru passes a law empowering Alcades (mayors) of provincial councils to solemnize marriages, thus enabling non-Catholics to wed.
1925
Edith Warner's remains are laid to rest. She had been a missionary for thirty-three years in Niger and explored areas never before seen by a white person.
1950
Pope Pius XII declared that the tomb of St. Peter had been discovered beneath St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
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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