1506 Saint Francis Xavier, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus, was born (d. 3 December 1552).

1523 Katharina von Bora (1499–1552) and six other nuns arrived in Wittenberg after escaping from Nimbschen convent.

1541 Francis Xavier and three companions departed Lisbon, Portugal, for Goa (India), the first of a long line of Roman Catholic missionaries to travel to India and the East Indies.

1546 Friedrich Myconius, friend and co-worker of Martin Luther and reformer of Thuringia, died (b. 26 December 1491, Lichtenfels, Upper Franconia, Bavaria).

1634 Hartmann Schenck, hymnist, was born in Ruhla, near Eisenach (d. 2 May 1681).

1640 Ludämilia Elisabeth, countess of Schwarzburg and hymnist, was born in a castle near Rudolstadt (d. 12 March 1672).

1652 Pope Clement XII was born as Lorenzo Corsini (d. 6 February 1740). He served as pope from 1730 until his death.

1677 Johann Ernst Gründler, missionary to India, was born in Weissensee, Thuringia, Germany (d. 19 March 1720).

1719 Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French priest, educational reformer and founder of an international educational movement, died (b. 29 April 1651).

1770 William Wordsworth, English romantic poet, was born (d. 23 April 1850).

1786 Walter Shirley, hymnist, died in Dublin, Ireland (b. 1725).

1842 Louis (Ludwig Friedrich Johann) Lochner was born in Nuernberg, Bavaria (d. 9 November 1909). He was an active promoter of missions, both foreign and domestic.

1872 Kirsopp Lake, British biblical scholar, was born (d. 1946).

1878 J. F. Doescher opened a Lutheran Sunday school for African Americans in New Orleans.

1881 Johann Hinrich Wichern, founder of Inner Missions in Germany, died (b. 21 April 1808, Hamburg, Germany). He is considered the inventor of the Advent Wreath.

1884 C. H. Dodd, English Congregational clergyman and New Testament scholar, was born (d. 21 September 1973).

1914 Friedrich W. Lange, the first Lutheran missionary to Kansas, died.

1917 James Hope Moulton (b. 11 October 1863), English Methodist clergyman and biblical Greek scholar, died.

1953 Swedish diplomat and Christian statesman Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961) was elected secretary general of the United Nations. Hammarskjold endeared himself to Christian readers through the posthumous publication of his life journal Markings (1964).