Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles
1501 Pope Alexander VI(1431–1503), in the encyclical Ad ea quae circa decorem, sanctioned the Roman Catholic religious order of Minims, founded by Francis of Paola in 1435.
1512 Martin Luther represented his cloister at Köln, and the convention made him sub-prior, which made him director of studies. Soon thereafter he was ordered to preach and get his doctor of theology degree. Johann von Staupitz (1460–1524) was grooming a successor for the theological professorship in Wittenberg. Frederick of Saxony paid the fifty gulden to make Luther a doctor of theology.
1551 The second period of the Council of Trent began. The entire Council of Trent, which met in three separate periods, took eighteen years to accomplish its work.
1572 Pope Pius V, pope from 1566, died (b. 7 January 1504). A reforming pope, he ordered bishops and clergy to accept the propositions of the Council of Trent, completed the Roman Catechism (which he translated into many languages), reformed both the Breviary and the Missal and reacquainted the church with Thomas Aquinas, whom he declared a Doctor of the Church and whose works he ordered to be collected and republished. He also vehemently opposed the Reformation.
1672 Joseph Addison, English politician, writer and hymnist, was born in Milston, Wiltshire, England (d. 17 June 1719).
1759 Jacob Albright, founder of the Evangelistic Association, was born near Pottstown, Pennsylvania (d. 17 May 1808).
1819 Lott Carey (ca. 1780–1828) and Collin Teague, African Americans, sailed as Baptist missionaries to the regions of Sierra Leone and Liberia in Africa.
1852 The Congregational Methodist Church was organized at Forsyth, Monroe County, Georgia.
1852 Friedrich Philip von Abert, Roman Catholic archbishop of Muennerstadt, was born.
1858 A. J. Showalter, American music teacher, author and publisher, was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (d. 16 November 1924, Chattanooga, Tennessee).
1861 Fred C. Pritzlaff, co-founder of the Lutheran Laymen’s League, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 9 November 1951).
1873 David Livingstone, Scottish missionary, died (b. 19 March 1813).
1881 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist, was born in Sarcenat, France (d. 10 April 1955).
1893 The foreign mission work of the LCMS was established.
1912 The Evangelical Lutheran Mission for China was organized under the leadership of Eduard Louis Arndt (1864–1929).
1915 Albert Kuhn, president of the Minnesota Synod, died (b. 2 February 1835, Saint Gallen canton, Switzerland).
1931 Martin Joseph Schmidt, professor and director of Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) died (b. 25 March 1846, Altenburg, Perry County, Missouri).
1933 The first issue of The Catholic Worker, a monthly newspaper, was published.
1939 The Back to the Bible Broadcast was launched by Theodore Epp in Lincoln, Nebraska.
1996 Herman William Gockel died in St. Louis, Missouri (b. 1906). He attended Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) beginning in 1920 and graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1931. He served briefly as a pastor in Anna, Illinois, and Evansville, Indiana. From 1945 to 1952 he was the editor of Today magazine. He also served as the assistant secretary of the Board for Missions in North and South America. In 1948 he published his well-known book What Jesus Means to Me. From 1951 to 1971 he wrote for and produced the television show This Is the Life.