1519 Martin Luther returned to Wittenberg after the Leipzig Debate.

1525 Following the defeat of King Francis I of France (1494–1547) by Charles V (1500–1558), Holy Roman Emperor, in January 1526, the emperor urged Catholic rulers to exterminate the Lutheran heresy.

1593 Jacob Fabricius, hymnist, was born (d. 1654).

1624 George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, was born (d. 13 January 1691).

1633 John Campanius (1601–1683), Swedish-American Lutheran pastor, was ordained.

1649 Edward Winslow (1595–1655), governor of the Plymouth Colony, helped organize the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England.

1692 In the Massachusetts Colony of Salem, five women were convicted and hanged for witchcraft: Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth Howe, Rebecca Nourse and Susannah Martin (in the preceding month, Bridget Bishop became the first Salem resident executed for witchcraft).

1825 The American Unitarian Association was founded by members of the liberal wing of the Congregational churches in New England. The movement was inspired by a sermon preached in 1819 by William Ellery Channing in Boston. In 1961 the organization changed its name to the Unitarian Universalist Association after merging with the Universalists.

1835 Jesse Engle, pioneer missionary, was born (d. 3 April 1900). In 1898 he led the first party of five missionaries to Africa under the sponsorship of the Brethren in Christ Missions.

1838 Christmas Evans (b. 25 December 1766), Welsh Baptist preacher, died.

1848 More than three hundred men and women assembled in the Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls, New York, for the first formal convention to discuss “the social, civil, and religious condition and the rights of women.” The event has been called the birthplace of the women’s rights movement.

1890 John Kelly, hymn translator, died on a visit to Graemer, Scotland (b. 5 October 1833).

1904 Construction began on the Liverpool Cathedral in England. The work was completed and the cathedral consecrated twenty years later, on this same date in 1924.

1938 Paul Rader (b. 26 August 1879), American evangelist, died.

2003 Bill Bright, founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ, died (b. 19 October 1921).