258 Laurence, Deacon and Martyr, died (b. ca. 225).

955 The Battle of Lechfeld was a decisive victory of the forces of Otto the Great, King of the Germans, over the Magyar leaders. The Magyars retreated to the Carpathian Basin, where they settled into a more agricultural way of life and were eventually Christianized.

1536 Kaspar Olevianus, German Reformed theologian and author of the Heidelberg Catechism, was born (d. 15 March 1587). [German Wikipedia article]

1556 Philipp Nicolai, clergyman, composer and hymnist, was born in Mengeringhausen (d. 26 October 1608).

1668 Samuel Kinner, hymnist, died at Brieg, Germany (b. 1603, Breslau).

1760 Philip Embury (1729–1775) arrived in New York from England, the first Methodist clergyman to come to America.

1806 Johann Michael Haydn (b. 14 September 1737), Austrian chorister, died.

1820 The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Virginia was organized at Woodstock, Virginia, by eight pastors and two lay delegates, mainly from the Shenandoah Valley.

1833 Peter Laurentius Larsen, professor and president at Luther College (Decorah, Iowa), was born in Norway (d. 1 March 1915).

1836 Edward Frederick Moldehnke, traveling missionary of the Wisconsin Synod and later in the General Council, was born in Insterburg, East Prussia (d. 25 June 1904).

1841 Mary A. Lathbury, American Methodist leader and hymnist, was born in Manchester, New York (d. 20 October 1913, East Orange, New Jersey).

1855 F. J. (Frederick John) Foakes-Jackson, Anglican theologian, was born in Ipswich, England (d. 1941).

1858 John A. L. Riley, hymnist, was born in London (d. 17 November 1945, Jersey, Channel Islands).

1866 The Fraternal Address, an invitation to form new general Lutheran body, was issued by disenchanted General Synod members.

1886 Joseph M. Scriven (b. 10 September 1819), Irish Plymouth Brethren hymn writer, died.

1896 Herman A. Mayer was born in Frankenmuth, Michigan (d. 13 May 1997). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1919. From 1919 to 1946 he served congregations in both Minnesota and Missouri. He served on the Missouri Synod Board for Foreign Missions from 1946 until his retirement in 1966.

1897 William Walsham How, hymnist, died (b. 13 December 1823).

1933 The mission organization Wycliffe Bible Translators was first set in motion at the Day of Prayer for the tribes in Latin America, in Keswick, New Jersey.

1974 Paul Martin Bretscher, seminary professor and editor, died (b. 11 November 1893).