All Saints’ Day
451 The Council of Chalcedon (in modern Turkey) adjourned.Pope Leo I (400–461) convened the first session the previous month. During the seventeen sessions, the six hundred bishops involved condemned monophysitism, an ancient heresy that denied the full humanity of Christ by teaching that the incarnate Son of God possessed only one nature: the divine.
1495 Erhard Schnepf, Württemberg reformer, was born in Heilbronn, Germany (d. 1 November 1558). [German Wikipedia article]
1512 Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo (1475–1564) unveiled his 5,808-square-foot masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
1526 Adam Reusner (1496–1582), hymnist, joined the army to fight on the side of Charles V in Italy against Pope Clemens VII. [German Wikipedia article]
1539 The Reformation was introduced in Brandenburg.
1617 Martin Rinkart (1586–1649), hymnist, became archdeacon of Eilenberg.
1633 Gerhard Molanus, hymnist, was born at Hemeln, Germany (d. 7 September 1722).
1756 Gottlieb Schober, who helped form the General Synod and served at its president in 1825, was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (d. 27 June 1838).
1770 Alexander Cruden (b. 8 June 1699), Scottish editor and compiler of Cruden’s Concordance, died.
1787 Richard Allen, William White and Absalom Jones withdrew from Saint George’s Church in Philadelphia to begin a “colored” church because of attempted racial segregation. This resulted in the formation of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1816.
1792 The first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in American convened in Baltimore, Maryland.
1796 William Adam, Baptist and Unitarian missionary to India, was born at Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland (d. 19 February 1881).
1811 Andrew Reed (1787–1862), hymnist, was ordained as pastor of his home church in London.
1825 William Whiting, English school principal, was born in Kensington, England (d. 3 May 1878).
1825 English philanthropist George Müller (1805–1898) attended a Moravian mission and became a Christian.
1828 Magnus B. Landstad (1802–1880), hymnist, was appointed as resident vicar of Gausdal, Norway.
1855 John Frederick William Harms was born in Gruenhagen, Germany (d. 12 August 1943). Before his confirmation his family left Germany and came to Reedsburg, Wisconsin. He attended Northwestern College (Watertown, Wisconsin) and graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1880. He served as pastor Zion Lutheran Church (Bancroft, Cuming County, Nebraska) for fifty-seven years. He was vice-president of Nebraska District (1900–1922) and first president of the Northern Nebraska District from 1922 to 1933.
1862 “Hark! The Sound of Holy Voices” was written for use on All Saints Day.
1864 Franklin Foster Fry, a leader in organizing the United Lutheran Church in America, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (d. 13 December 1933).
1874 Benjamin Bosse, a member of the Missouri Synod Board of Directors and a leader in the Lutheran Laymen’s League, was born in Scott Township, Indiana (d. 4 April 1922).
1892 The Apache Lutheran Mission of the Wisconsin Synod opened.
1905 The Terry Lectureship was established at Yale University by a gift from Dwight H. Terry for lectures on religion in the light of science and philosophy.
1909 John Nicum (b. 6 January 1851), professor at Wagner Lutheran College, Staten Island, New York, died.
1913 Work among African Americans in the South led by the Synodical Conference spread to South Carolina (Spartanburg).
1918 Howard A. Walter (b. 19 August 1883), American Congregational missionary and hymnist, died.
1924 Albert Theodore William Steinhaeuser, who translated some of Martin Luther’s Works into English, died (b. 30 September 1876, Buffalo, New York).
1949 Charles Wm. Gustav Eifrig (b. 23 September 1871), professor of natural science at Concordia Teachers College (Addison and River Forest, Illinois), died.
1950 Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Munificentissimus Deus . This doctrine teaches that Jesus’ mother at the end of her life on earth was taken body and soul into heaven to be united with the risen Christ.
1951 The Social Welfare Department of the LCMS was begun with Henry F. Wind (1891–1966), executive secretary of Lutheran Services of New York, as part-time executive director.
1957 The Arnoldshain Theses (Arnoldshainer Abendmahlsthesen) were approved by Lutheran, Reformed and Union theologians representing the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD).
1962 The headquarters building of the Korean Lutheran Mission was opened.
1963 The first U.S. Christmas stamp went on sale. The design showed a Christmas tree in front of the White House.
1985 The Rev. James McDaniels began his work as the Secretary for Black Ministry for the LCMS Board for Mission Services. This was a new position on the board, and he would be involved in planting new black congregations and strengthening black ministries. He would work closely with the Rev. Dr. Richard Dickinson, secretary for the Commission on Black Ministry.
1998 Martin J. Maehr died in Ann Arbor, Michigan (b. 13 October 1902). Maehr taught and was principal at Christ Lutheran Mission School (Perry, Oklahoma) until he was called as principal at Saint John Lutheran School (Seward, Nebraska) in 1944. In 1951 he accepted a full-time position as professor of education at Concordia Teachers College (Seward). Maehr retired from full-time status at Concordia in 1976 but continued to serve in many ways, particularly in working with international students.