Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

1452 Girolamo Savonarola, Italian reformer and martyr, was born in Ferrara, Italy (d. 23 May 1498).

1522 Martin Luther released his first translation of the New Testament in German. He undertook the translating while a resident of The Wartburg, and used Erasmus’  Textus Receptus (Koine Greek) instead of Jerome’s Vulgate (Latin), which was the standard usage of the Roman Catholic church of Luther’s day. This edition became known as the September Bible.

1549 Benedette Accolti, “Cardinal of Ravenna,” died in Florence (b. 1497). He was a nephew of Pietro Accolti (1455–1532), who was also a cardinal. Benedette belonged to the college of abbreviators under Pope Leo X (1475–1521) and was made cardinal by Pope Clement VII (1478–1534) in 1527.

1558 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, died (b. 24 February 1500).

1586 Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French church leader, died (b. 20 August 1517).

1629 Philip Cardinal Howard, English Catholic Cardinal, was born (d. 17 June 1694).

1827 Joseph Smith (1805–1844) claimed that the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which is translated into The Book of Mormon.

1832 Sir Walter Scott, English poet, died (b. 15 August 1771, Edinburgh, Scotland).

1841 C. F. W. Walther married Emilie Buenger.

1842 Abdul Hamid II, known as “the Great Assassin,” was born in Topkapi Palace, Constantinople, Turkey (d. 10 February 1918). He was the last sultan of Turkey, reigning from 1876 to 1909.

1845 Harriett R. K. Spaeth, hymn translator, was born in Baltimore (d. 5 May 1925, Philadelphia).

1870 Martin Ilse Sr., institutional missionary, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 7 June 1955, Cleveland, Ohio). He graduated from Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) in 1889 and from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1892. Until 1922 he served as pastor at Saint John Lutheran Church (Collinswood, Ohio). During that time he also founded institutional missions in Cleveland and helped in the formation of the Midwest Institutional Pastors’ Conference, the Cleveland Deaconess Association and the Lutheran Nurses’ Association.

1881 Henry (Heinrich) Nau, missionary pioneer and president of Immanuel Lutheran College (Greensboro, North Carolina), was born in Beltershausen, Marburg, Germany (d. 17 May 1956).

1887 Martin H. Bertram was born in Upper Montere, New Zealand (d. 5 May 1983). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1911 and served as a pastor at Didsbury and Bismarck, Alberta, Canada. He was an assistant professor at Concordia College (Saint Paul, Minnesota) from 1914 to 1916, principal of Luther Institute (Fort Wayne, Indiana) from 1916 to 1921 and professor at Concordia College (Fort Wayne) beginning in 1921.

1893 Walter August Baepler, president of Concordia Theological Seminary (Springfield, Illinois) from 1953 to 1958, president of the Lutheran Synodical Conference from 1952 to 1956 and author of A Century of Grace: A History of the Missouri Synod, 1847–1947, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana (d. 9 October 1958).

1903 Lutheran secondary education in Milwaukee began when twelve girls entered a gas-lighted classroom supplied by Immanuel Lutheran Elementary School. Founders of the school enlisted volunteer pastors, teachers and others to provide instruction.

1908 Alvaro A. Cariño was born in the Philippines (d. 11 July 1998). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1937 and served as a pastor in Chicago, Illinois; the Philippines; and Honolulu, Hawaii. He retired in 1974 but continued to serve as a missionary-at-large from 1974 to 1978.

1935 James M. Gray (b. 11 May 1851), American Bible teacher and author, died.

1947 Lauritz Andreas Vigness, professor at Augustana Synod colleges, died (b. 14 January 1864, Fillmore County, Minnesota).

1982 Funeral services were held for Walter F. Lichtsinn (b. 24 April 1889) at Saint Paul Lutheran Church (Munster, Indiana). He graduated from Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis). He served Saint John Lutheran Church (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) from 1913 to 1918 and Saint Paul Lutheran Church (Hammond, Indiana) from 1918 until his retirement in 1963. Lichtsinn was third vice-president of the Missouri Synod from 1947 to 1959. He had previously been president of the Central District from 1927 to 1947.