394 Theodosius I (347–395) became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

1093 Anselm of Bec (ca. 10331109) was enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury and was served with a writ to answer charges by the king.

1316 The coronation of Pope John XXII (1249–1334) took place. He had a long conflict with the emperor, opposed the Franciscan Spirituals and enlarged and reorganized the curia.

1661 John Eliot (16041690) finished his New Testament translation into the Indian language.

1692 Colonial clergyman Increase Mather (1639–1723) received the first doctor of sacred theology degree (S.T.D.) awarded in America at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1735 Johann Christian Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was born in Leipzig (d. 1 January 1782, London).

1802 Frederick Oakeley, English clergyman, was born in Shrewsbury, England (d. 29 January 1880, Islington, Middlesex, England).

1810 The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was founded by the General Association of Congregational Churches.

1825 The Synod of West Pennsylvania was organized in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, after several congregations withdrew from the Pennsylvania Ministerium under the leadership of S. S. Schmucker.

1826 The Lutheran Theological Seminary (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) opened.

1846 A proposed constitution for the Missouri Synod was published in Der Lutheraner.

1847 Henry F. Lyte (17931847) wrote Abide with Me on the evening of his last sermon and Holy Communion at Lower Brixham before going to France.

1851 Howard B. Grose, American Baptist leader, was born in Millerton, New York (d. 19 May 1939).

1870 Three American Roman Catholic universities were founded on this date: Saint Johns (New York City), Loyola (Chicago) and Canisius (Buffalo, New York).

1876 William Morton Reynolds, president of Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, died (b. 4 March 1812, Little Falls Forge, Fayette County, Pennsylvania).

1888 At age twenty-six American baseball player-turned-evangelist Billy Sunday (18621935) married Helen Amelia Thompson, later known affectionately as Ma Sunday. She became Sundays evangelistic campaign adviser. Her organizational talents and his preaching skill raised him to national prominence.

1893 John Sullivan Dwight, hymn translator, died (b. 13 May 1812, Boston).

1900 John Henry Yates (b. 21 November 1837, Batavia, New York), American clergyman and hymnist, died at Batavia.

1902 Erna Christine Feucht (née Schultz) was born in Breckinridge, Oklahoma. She became the wife of the Reverend Oscar E. Feucht in 1930 and was involved with women’s groups at Calvary Lutheran Church, Kansas City, Missouri, where her husband was the pastor. After they moved to Saint Louis in 1946, she became the first office secretary of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League in 1947. She served in this capacity until her retirement on 1 January 1970, providing crucial support for twenty-two years to this Christ-centered women’s organization.

1905 Hezekiah Butterworth, hymnologist, died (b. 22 December 1839, Warren, Rhode Island).

1906 Concordia College (Oakland, California) opened.

1909 G. (George) Ernest Wright, American Presbyterian archeologist, was born in Zanesville, Ohio (d. 1974).

1922 August R. Suelflow was born in Rockfield, Wisconsin (d. 28 August 1999). A 1946 graduate of Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis), he served as assistant curator of the Concordia Historical Institute from 1946 to 1948 and director of CHI from 1948 to 1995.

1923 The Synod of Central Pennsylvania merged with the Susquehanna Synod forming the Susquehanna Synod of Central Pennsylvania.

1927 The Slovak Luther League was organized in Whiting, Indiana.

1928 Northwestern Lutheran Academy (Mobridge, South Dakota) was founded.

1950 Baptist Bible College was founded in Springfield, Missouri, under the auspices of the Baptist Bible Fellowship. The school is one of the largest Bible colleges in America with an enrollment of over 2,000.

1991 The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was dissolved by the Congress of People’s Deputies.

1997 Harold H. Buls, missionary in Nigeria and professor at Saint John’s College (Winfield, Kansas) and Concordia Theological Seminary (Fort Wayne, Indiana), died in Fort Wayne, Indiana (b. 4 January 1920, Garland, Nebraska).

1997 Mother Teresa, winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Missionaries of Charity, died in Calcutta, India (b. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, 26 August 1910, Skopje, Yugoslavia).

© 2014-2024 Concordia Historical Institute • All Rights Reserved