Historical Writings

(probable date) Cyprian is baptized in Carthage on Easter eve. He will become a bishop and leading theologian, renowned for writing the treatise On the Unity of the Catholic Church.

Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone of the second building of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Death in London of John Foxe, author of The Actes and Monuments of the Church (first published in 1563), better known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

In Rome, Julius II laid the foundation stone of the second building of St. Peter's Basilica. Completed 20 years later by Urban VIII, St. Peter's today is the largest church in Christendom, with an overall length of 619 feet.

Sophronius is consecrated Bishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsk. Years earlier, at being made a monk, he had received a vision saying, "When you become bishop, build a church dedicated to all saints" - which he did. He will be considered an Orthodox saint.

Thomas Charles's career as a Church of England clergyman ends when he is dismissed as curate of Llanymawddwy because of his support of Methodists. He will be influential in establishing Welsh schools and the British and Foreign Bible Society.

In England, the remains of Scottish missionary David Livingstone (who had died the previous year in Africa at age 60) were interred in London's Westminster Abbey.

Eleven Catholics are murdered for their faith in Yanjing, Tibet. Their killers read a message from the Dalai Lama threatening death to Christian converts who will not return to Buddhism.

Mattiya Leonard Kamungu becomes the first Anglican priest of the Chewa people in the diocese of Nyasaland. He will be misunderstood by both Europeans and his own people as he tries to walk a line between European paternalism and African expectations. He dies in 1913, possibly poisoned, and will be considered a martyr.

Death in Hankow, China, of Eduard L. Arndt, pioneer Lutheran missionary.