Historical Writings

On order of a superior, Anthony of Padua (Fernando de Bouillon), preaches his first, powerful sermon, the fruit of much reflection.

The Edict of Amboise granted a limited amount of freedom to French Protestants, thereby ending the First Huguenot War.

William Allen, exiled head of England's Roman Catholics, exhorts King Philip II of Spain by letter to undertake an invasion of England and declares that the Catholics there are clamoring for him to punish Queen Elizabeth, "hated by God and man."

Sophia Olelkovich Raziwell died, the last descendent of the Olelkovich-Slutsk dynasty. Passionate for Orthodoxy, she had refused to convert to Catholicism and had obtained a law allowing landowners of the region (modern-day Belarus) to remain Orthodox. Because of her efforts, the region around Slutsk will become a bastion of Orthodoxy, and in 1983 she will be canonized by the Orthodox Church.

A General Court ended which declared the Colony of Rhode Island a democracy. The Court also adopted a constitution granting religious freedom to all its citizens.

Death in Helmstadt, Germany, of Georg Calixtus who had been the most influential perpetuator of Melanchthon's Lutheran theology in the seventeenth century.

Death at Longleat, England, of Thomas Ken, notable in his generation as one of seven bishops who had been sent to the Tower of London for refusing to publish King James II's Declaration of Indulgence. He will be remembered by succeeding generations as the author of the doxology "Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow."

Philip Doddridge is ordained as a nonconformist minister in England. His book The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul will be influential in converting English statesman William Wilberforce and many others to evangelical Christianity.

Henry Nott and fellow missionaries conduct the first Christian service ever held in Tahiti. The meeting takes place under cover of some enormous trees with the king of Tahiti and many other Tahitians present.

In Vienna, the first public performance of Franz Joseph Haydn's oratorio Creation takes place. Tickets have been sold out long in advance. A public rehearsal and a private performance for the elite had taken place almost a year earlier, also in Vienna.

American poet William Cullen Bryant writes his Christmas hymn "Look from Thy Sphere of Endless Day" for the fiftieth anniversary of the Church of the Messiah in Boston.

Death in Racine, Wisconsin, of James De Koven, an Episcopal priest and a leader of Anglican ritualism.

Charles Harrison Mason experiences baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. An African-American, he will become founder and head of the Church of God in Christ, Inc.

Pius XI declared in the encyclical "Divini redemptoris": 'There would be neither Socialism nor Communism today if the rulers of the nations had not scorned the teachings and material warnings of the Church.'

German Lutheran pastor and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter: 'We can have abundant life, even though many wishes remain unfulfilled.'

Lithunians establish The Chronicle, an underground newspaper, to expose Soviet cruelty toward Catholic Christians.

Jim Bakker, 48, stepped down as head of the PTL ministry amid disclosures of a 1980 sexual liaison with church secretary Jessica Hahn.