53 Marcus Ulpius Trajan, emperor of Rome from 98 to 117, was born (d. 9 August 117). He was the third Roman emperor, after Nero (54–68) and Domitian (ruled 81–96), to persecute the early Christian Church. During his reign the apostolic father Ignatius of Antioch (b. ca. 35) was martyred in 107.

96 Domitian, Roman Emperor, died (b. 24 October 51).

324 Constantine the Great (ca. 280–337) decisively defeated Licinius (ca. 250–325) in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine’s sole control over the Roman Empire.

1630 Melchior Klesl, Austrian cardinal and statesman, died (b. 19 February 1552).

1643 Gilbert Burnet, Scottish prelate, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 17 March 1715).

1663 Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint, died (b. 17 June 1603).

1673 Justus Gesenius, hymnist and German Lutheran court preacher, died (b. 6 July 1601, Esbeck, Germany).

1684 Johann Gottfried Walther, German music theorist, organist, and composer, was born (d. 23 March 1748).

1698 Kornelius Dretzel, composer, was born at Nürnberg (d. 7 May 1775).

1757 Moses Henkel, Methodist preacher (only non-Lutheran pastor among the early Henkels), was born (d. 28 July 1827).

1765 Oliver Holden, early American Puritan composer, was born at Shirley (near Boston), Massachusetts (d. 4 September 1844).

1765 Pope Gregory XVI was born (d. 1 June 1846).

1845 A Document of Separation was signed at Cleveland by nine pastors leaving the Ohio Synod. Most eventually joined the Missouri Synod. The nine included Wilhelm Sihler (1801–1885) and C. A. T. Selle (1819–1898).

1851 The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Northern Illinois was organized at Cedarville, Illinois.

1859 Karl Johannes Voskamp, Lutheran missionary in China, was born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 20 September 1937).

1876 Martin Enoch Waldeland, professor and editor of Augsburg Publishing House, was born in Gundey, Clayton County, Iowa (d. 30 December 1933).

1877 G. Adam Reichert, traveling missionary in western Pennsylvania, died (b. 1795).

1884 Horace Greely B. Artman, missionary to India, died at Rajahmundry, India (b. 23 September 1857).

1884 The Brooklyn Tabernacle was packed for the funeral of Jerry McAuley (b. 1839), founder of New York’s Water Street Mission, a pioneer among American rescue missions.

1898 H. L. Jenner, hymn translator, died at Preston-Next-Wingham, Kent, England (b. 6 June 6, 1820, Chislehurst, Kent, England).

1905 George MacDonald (b. 10 December 1824), Scottish novelist and poet, died.

1927 Michael J. Stelmachowicz was born in Saint Louis, Missouri (d. 30 December 2009, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin). He was a graduate of Saint John’s College (Winfield, Kansas), Concordia Teachers College (Seward, Nebraska) and Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis, Missouri). During his career he served as a Lutheran teacher, principal of Lutheran High School South (Saint Louis), professor and dean of students at Concordia Teachers College (Seward), superintendent of the Lutheran High School Association of Greater Detroit, Michigan; president of Saint John’s College and Concordia Teachers College (Seward) and executive director of the Board for Higher Education of the Missouri Synod.

1930 Carrie E. Rounsefell (b. 1 March 1861), music evangelist from New England, died.

1943 The Jews of Minsk are massacred at Sobibor.

1961 Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish statesman and peacemaker, died in a plane crash en route to negotiate a ceasefire between Katanga troops and United Nations forces in Africa (b. 29 July 1905).

1962 The Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International  (FGFCMI) was established in Dallas, Texas, by Gordon and Freda Lindsay. In 1967 its name was changed to Christ for the Nations.

1965 Russian Baptists broke from their forced union with other Christians and formed their own Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians, Baptists.

1985 Rudolph C. Prange died in Valparaiso, Indiana (b. 24  March 1900). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1924 and served as pastor in Saint Louis and Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas, before serving as a missionary to the Philippines from 1947 to 1962. He later served as pastor in Waynesville, Missouri,and was also a circuit counselor. He retired in 1972.

1994 Arthur Leonard Miller died (b. 28 April 1907). He received his bachelor’s degree from Concordia Teachers College (River Forest, Illinois) in 1927 and his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Chicago. From 1946 to 1972 he served as the executive secretary for the Board for Parish Education of the Missouri Synod. Before joining the synodical staff in 1946, he taught for twenty years at Nazareth Lutheran School (Chicago). Concordia Teachers College (Seward, Nebraska) awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1965.