Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles
440 Pope Leo I (400–461) announced that Saints Peter and Paul have replaced Romulus and Remus as the patrons of Rome.
1555 The first provincial council of Mexico convened in an attempt by the church to protect the Indians from the rapacity of the conquistadors.
1629 Samuel Skelton and Francis Higginson (1588–1630) arrived in Massachusetts on the ship Talbot, the first Presbyterian pastors in the American colonies.
1685 Thomas Ken (1637–1711), hymnist, was consecrated as Bishop of Bath and Wells.
1714 Erik Tobias Björk (ca. 1668-1740), early Swedish American pastor, left America for Sweden.
1722 Jakob Baumgarten, German pastor and hymn poet, died.
1729 Trinity Lutheran Church, New York City, was dedicated.
1796 John Williams, apostle of Polynesia, was born in London (d. 1839).
1810 The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized in Massachusetts under the leadership of Samuel Spring and Samuel Worcester.
1816 Pope Pius VII (1740–1823) issued an edict against all Bible societies.
1849 Lars Paul Esbjörn (1808–1870), Swedish Lutheran pastor, sailed for New York from Gaevle (Gefle) with his wife and six small children on the steamship Cobden.
1894 Frank Bottome (b. 26 May 1823), hymnist, died.
1908 The Roman Catholic curia system was reorganized by Pope Pius X (1835–1914) in the constitution Sapienti consilio.
1908 Cyrus H. Gordon, American Jewish archeological scholar, was born in Philadelphia (19 April 2001).
1948 A Pastoral Letter signed by the Romanian Uniate Church’s episcopacy on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul told why this group remained attached to Rome.
1959 Abuna Basilios became the first non-Coptic-controlled patriarch of Ethiopia, and the Orthodox church there became free of the Patriarchate of Alexandria (Egypt).
1961 World Missionary Press was incorporated in Winona Lake, Indiana, by the Rev. and Mrs. G. Watson Goodman.
1968 Pope Paul VI (1897–1978) issued the Creed of the People of God, an authoritative modern Catholic statement of faith.
1977 Lawrence B. Meyer, missionary to China and long-time Missouri Synod executive, died in Miami, Florida (b. 13 July 1890). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1917 and served in the synod’s China mission field from 1917 to 1926. He went on to serve as director of missionary education and publicity from 1926 to 1950, synodical planning counselor from 1950 to 1961, consultant to the Board of Directors from 1961 to 1963 and from 1963 on as assistant to the director of the Faith Forward staff. From 1940 to 1950 he also served as executive director of the Emergency Planning Council and acted as a representative of the Board of Directors at other synodical functions, such as the Coordinating Committee, the Board for Higher Education, the College of Presidents and the Board for European Affairs. Meyer was editor of the Clergy Bulletin beginning in 1936. He authored various tracts and pamphlets, most of which were related to missions. He also attended the Bad Boll Conferences in Germany from 1948 to 1950.
