431 The Third Ecumenical Council opened in Saint Mary’s church in Ephesus (first council of Ephesus). Convoked by Theodosius II, it concerned the Nestorian Controversy, which held that Christ was two separate persons rather than one person with two natures.

1535 The staunch Roman Catholic John Fisher (b. ca. 1469) was beheaded at the Tower of London. He was the only bishop who did not sign a document that declared Henry VIII of England’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon unlawful.

1559 Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer Book was issued (a revision of Second Prayer Book of Edward VI). Both prayer books were Protestant in doctrine.

1714 Matthew Henry, non-conformist English Presbyterian pastor at Chester and Hackney, died (b. 18 October 1662).

1750 New England colonial preacher Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was dismissed from his pulpit in the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts after serving there twenty-three years.

1767 August Friedrich Kemmerer, missionary to India, was born in Wusterhausen, Brandenburg, Germany (d. 22 October 1837).

1780 Robert Raikes (1736–1811) started the first Sunday school.

1807 Nathan Brown, Baptist missionary to India and Japan who translated the Bible and other works into native languages, was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire (d. 1 January 1886).

1824 Edward Mills Dodd, missionary to Jews and Armenians, was born (d. 20 August 1865).

1845 Sheldon Dibble, missionary to Hawaii, died (b. 26 January 1809).

1850 William Walford (b. 1772), English Congregational clergyman and religious writer, died.

1859 Martin Louis Ernest Luecke, professor and president of Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana), was born in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin (d. 13 April 1926).

1870 A committee of twenty-seven members began its work of translating the New Testament. This translation became the Revised Version, a revision of the King James Version of the Bible. It was published in 1881, and the Old Testament was completed in 1885.

1874 Lydia Baxter (b. 2 September 1809), American Baptist lay worker and hymn writer, died.

1897 American Evangelical Lutheran Mission Hospital, Guntur, India, opened. The women’s hospital was renamed in 1930 for medical missionary Anna Sarah Kugler (1856–1930).

1917 The Lutheran Laymen’s League had its first organizational meeting in Milwaukee.

1937 Carl Ross, professor at Concordia College (Milwaukee), died (b. 30 September 1857, Doberan, Mecklenburg-Schwerin). He came to the U.S. with his family in 1870 and attended Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1878 and served as a pastor at Town Arlington (1878–1886) and Willow Creek (1886–1890), Minnesota. He was vice-president of the Minnesota and Dakota District of the LCMS. In 1890 he was called to the chair of ancient history and classics at Concordia College (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), where he served for thirty-six years. In 1913 he was called to succeed the sainted Dr. Georg Stoeckhardt at the Saint Louis seminary but decided to remain in Milwaukee. In 1923 the Saint Louis faculty awarded him a doctorate.

1957 Immanuel Hospital, Mambisanda, New Guinea, opened.

1962 Olaf Morgan Norlie, Lutheran professor and historian, died (b. 11 January 1876).

1981 Kateri Takakwitha (1656–1680) was beatified, the first American Indian so honored by the Roman Catholic Church.