256 North African bishops voted unanimously that Christians who had lapsed under persecution must be rebaptized on re-entering the church. The vote led to a battle between Cyprian, one of the North African bishops, and Stephen, bishop of Rome, who disagreed with the vote.

655 Pope Martin I died. He was imprisoned and then banished by Emperor Constans II, who rejected the doctrine of Christ’s two wills.

1159 Pope Adrian IV (b. ca.1100) died.

1271 The longest papal election in history resulted in the choice of Tebaldo Visconti as Pope Gregory X (ca. 12101276). The election had begun in November 1268 with the death of Pope Clement IV.

1525 Martin Luther published his defense against English King Henry VIII.

1536 Pietro Paolo Vergerio (1498–1565), Luther opponent who became anti-Catholic, was named bishop of Capodistria.

1646 The Cambridge Synod of Congregational Churches was convened by the General Court of Massachusetts. The synod led to the adoption of the Cambridge Platform, a document setting down the religious government of the Congregational churches in Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven and Connecticut.

1785 Peter Cartwright, American pioneer Methodist circuit rider, was born in Virginia (d. 25 September 1872).

1803 In Boston the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was instituted. It was the first tract society to be formed in North America.

1804 William John Copeland, hymn translator, was born at Chigwell, England (d. 25August 1885).

1836 Missionaries Marcus Whitman (18021847) and Henry H. Spalding (18031874) and their wives reached what is now Walla Walla, Washington, at the junction of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The first white settlers in the Pacific Northwest, Whitman, his wife and twelve others were killed at their mission by Native Americans.

1851 The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Northern Illinois was organized.

1855 The Definite Platform was published. This document promoted by some General Synod leaders rejected several key positions of the Lutheran Confessions.

1859 William Broecker was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1882 and served as a pastor at Farnham and Silver Creek, New York; Kendallville, Indiana; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was vice-president of the Eastern District (19061916, 19191921) and president of the district from 1921 until is death in Pittsburgh on 24 December 1928.

1860 Augustana College and Theological Seminary opened in Chicago, Illinois.

1861 The first Lutheran parish in Kansas was organized at Clark’s Creek, near Junction City.

1863 Karl Rudolph Demme, liturgical and hymnological leader, died (b. 10 April1795, Germany).

1865 The first issue of the Wisconsin Synod Gemeindeblatt was published.

1871 The Nebraska Synod (Lutheran) was organized in Omaha at Emmanuel Lutheran Church.

1875 The practical seminary of the Missouri Synod was moved from Saint Louis, Missouri, to Springfield, Illinois. In 1976 the school, Concordia Theological Seminary, moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, its original home from 1846 to 1861.

1880 The Northfield Christian Workers’ Conference, more commonly known as the Northfield Bible Conference, was instituted by American evangelist Dwight L. Moody (18371899) at Northfield, Massachusetts.

1881 The Ohio Synod withdrew from the Synodical Conference due to the Predestinarian Controversy. Those who disagreed with the Ohio Synod with drew from them and formed the Concordia Synod.

1881 Concordia College (Milwaukee; now Concordia University Wisconsin) and Concordia Collegiate Institute (Bronxville, New York; now Concordia College) opened.

1913 Louise Ellermann (1884–1957), R.N., was chosen as the first LCMS medical missionary.

1923 Victor George Augustine Tressler, president of the General Synod, died (b. 10 April 1865, Somerfield, Pennsylvania).

1925 John M. Moore, Baptist clergyman, was born in Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Converted to Christ at age sixteen, he soon entered the evangelistic ministry of the Scottish Baptist Church. He also served pastorates in Glasgow and Inverness. His later years of ministry were spent in Willowdale, Ontario. A prolific writer of Gospel music, Moore penned Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary at the age of twenty-seven.

1936 Lewis E. Jones (b. 8 February 1865), American YMCA leader, died.

1939 Germany attacked Poland, beginning World War II.

1980 LCMS teacher Al Senske was named an assistant secretary with the U.S. Department of Education.

1985 Elmer Henry Pittelko died in Elk Grove Village, Illinois (b. 31 October 1906, Chicago, Illinois). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1930 and served as pastor in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada; El Reno and Fairmont, Oklahoma; and Hillside, Illinois. He was also professor of theology at Concordia Teachers College (River Forest, Illinois). Earlier he had been executive secretary of missions for the Oklahoma District and a circuit counselor. He retired in 1982.

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