1129 Formal approval of the Order of the Knights Templar was granted at the Council of Troyes.

1501 Martin Luther entered the University of Erfurt. He was 17 years old at the time.

1514 Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against slavery.

1524 The Second Diet of Nürnberg opened.

1529 Spanish reformer Juan de Valdés (ca. 1500–1541) published his Dialogue on Christian Doctrine. Its emphasis on faith and religious feeling, as well as disregard of ecclesiastical authority, paved the way in Spain for Protestant ideas.

1545 Martin Luther’s opinion on Martin Bucer’s (1491–1551) reformation was printed.

1699 Jacob Adlung, erudite organist of the Predigerkirche in Erfurt, was born (d. 5 July 1762). [German Wikipedia article]

1811 Rowland H. Prichard, composer, was born (d. 25 January 1887).

1824 The South Carolina Synod was organized by six pastors and five laymen representing thirteen congregations.

1845 The first Pittsburgh Synod was formed.

1864 Lauritz A. Vigness, educator and professor at Augustana Synod colleges, was born in Fillmore County, Minnesota (d. 21 September 1947).

1875 Albert Schweitzer, theologian and musician, was born in Alsace (d. 4 September 1965).

1876 Edmund H. Sears, hymnist, died (b. 6 April 1810).

1892 Martin Niemöller, German Lutheran pastor and political activist, was born (d. 6 March 1984, Wiesbaden).

1893 Pope Leo XIII (1810–1903) appointed Archbishop Francesco Satolli as the Vatican’s first Apostolic Delegate to the U.S.

1917 The Lutheran Publicity Organization of Saint Louis was organized.

1959 Eivind Josef Berggrav, bishop of Oslo, died (b. 1884).

2001 Elisabeth Vadrot-Galdies was ordained as “diacre-evangeliste” (evangelist-deaconess) in the ev.-luth. Holy-Cross church in Strasbourg, by church president Jean Thiebaut Haessig. Mme. Vadrot-Galdies, of Roman Catholic background, studied at the theological faculty of the university of human sciences in Strasbourg. During that time she joined the Holy-Cross parish of the EEL-SFB (Evangelical Lutheran Church Synod of France and Belgium). In Macon, France, she commenced visiting patients in five public hospitals, old-age homes and clinics for nervous diseases. There was no permanent minister in the city doing such work. Hence she was granted the right by the authorities to visit the sick on behalf of the EEL-SFB.