Saint Bartholomew, Apostle

 
79 The Roman city of Herculaneum was completely buried in volcanic ash by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

410 Alaric I (ca. 370–410), leader of the Visigoths, attacked the city of Rome in retaliation for Rome’s refusal to grant the Goths the land on which they wanted to settle (modern Hungary).

1456 The second volume of the Gutenberg Bible was bound in Mainz, Germany.

1572 Five thousand Huguenots and other Protestants were killed in the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris.

1662 The deadline arrived for all British ministers to publicly assent to the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). The Act of Uniformity, passed on 19 May 1662, also required the BCP to be used exclusively from this date forward.

1683 John Owen (b. 1616), English Puritan theologian, died.

1701 Ahasuerus Fritsch, German hymnologist, died (b. 16 December 1629, Mücheln, Germany).

1759 William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and vocal abolitionist, was born in Hull, Yorkshire (d. 29 July 1833).

1795 Samuel Stennett, hymnist and dissenting English (non-Anglican) clergyman, died (b. 1 June 1727).

1822 Erland Carlsson, president of the Augustana Synod, was born in Suletorp, Smaaland, Sweden (d. 19 October 1893).

1854 The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa and Other States was organized at Saint Sebald, Iowa, by German Lutheran emissaries of Wilhelm Loehe.

1867 The Synod of Central Illinois was organized at Mount Pulaski, Illinois, by men of Illinois Synod who wished to remain with the General Synod when their group joined the General Council.

1882 Charles William Fry (b. 30 May 1838), English Salvation Army worker and hymnist, died.

1883 Stephen Return Riggs, missionary to the Dakota Indians, died (b. 23 March 1812, Steubenville, Ohio).

1883 Paul Edward Kretzmann, theologian, hymn translator and professor at Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) was born in Farmers’ Retreat, Dearborn County, Indiana (d. 13 July 1965).

1895 Richard J. Cushing, American Roman Catholic leader, was born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2 November 1970).

1897 Georg Martin Grossmann, who helped organize the Iowa Synod, died (b. 18 October 1823, Grossbieberau, Hesse-Darmstadt).

1901 Walter R. Roehrs was born in Clinton, Wisconsin (d. 29 February 1996, Keller, Texas). He graduated from Concordia College (Milwaukee) in 1920 and from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1925. He continued his education at the University of Chicago, earning his M.A. in 1926. He was ordained at Grace Lutheran Church in Western Ridge and served as pastor there until 1930. He then became professor at Saint Paul’s College (Concordia, Missouri). He received his Ph.D. in 1934. In 1941 he was called to Concordia Teachers College (River Forest, Illinois), and in 1944 he was called to the Saint Louis seminary, where he remained active until 1968. He served as a member of the Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations, its Literature Committee, the staff of Concordia Publishing House and as editor of the Concordia Theological Monthly. He retired in 1969.

1917 Ernest Warburton Shurtleff (b. 4 April 1862), American Congregational clergyman and hymnist, died.

1964 The first Roman Catholic mass conducted completely in English was celebrated in Saint Louis, Missouri, in Kiel Auditorium. The service was conducted by the Rev. Frederick Richard McManus of the Catholic University of America.