Historical Writings

[probable date] Death at Novara of Saint Bernard of Menthon (Bernard of Savoy) who evangelized in the Alps. He was famed for founding monasteries in the mountains to succor travelers—monasteries that sent out monks with large dogs to seek people lost in winter snows.

German university masters attack John Wycliffe's doctrines which had spread to their nation by way of Jan Hus and others.

The Spanish navy sweeps opposition from Haarlem Lake, and will go on to capture Haarlem itself in July. Having promised that no one would be punished except those people whom the citizens of Harlaam itself consider deserving of punishment, the victors proceed to butcher about three thousand of the inhabitants of the city.

Joseph Alleine, Puritan author of An Alarm to the Unconverted, is thrown into Lichester prison because he does not comply with England’s Act of Uniformity.

James Renwick and about 200 men meet in Sanquhar, Scotland, where they will draft the Second Sanquhar Declaration which claims that King James II of England (VII of Scotland) is a murderer and an idolater and that acts of Parliament and Scottish church law make him ineligible to hold the kingship because he is a Catholic.

English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'I can't think that when God sent us into the world He had irreversibly decreed that we should be perpetually miserable in it.'

Roman Catholic bishop John Carroll of Baltimore issues a pastoral letter, the first document of its sort in the United States. Among its main themes is a call for Christian education.

Former president Thomas Jefferson set forth in a letter to a Jewish journalist his opinion of religious intolerance: 'Your sect by its sufferings has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal point of religious insolence, inherent in every sect, disclaimed by all while feeble and practised by all when in power. Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religions, as they do our civil rights, by putting all on equal footing. But more remains to be done.'

Death at Newhaven, Connecticut, of Noah Webster, author of an American speller and other works, including a dictionary, that distinguished American English from British. He had been a conservative in politics and religion.

In Italy, the Shroud of Turin was first photographed by Secundo Pia in Turin's Cathedral, where it had rested for 320 years.

Commencement of the first Latin American Plenary Council, held in Rome, to discuss numerous issues faced by the Catholic churches of Latin America.

Samuel Clement Perry joins the Church of God, Cleveland, where he will do notable work before his exclusion.

Death at Bangassou, Africa, of Baptist missionary William Haas from a fever. He and his wife had done much to create Baptist Mid-Missions, recruit personnel, and establish the station at Bangassou.

Death in Aberdeen, Scotland, of Alfred Adler, a Jewish convert to Christianity who had gained fame as a neurologist and psychiatrist. He considered man's "will to power" a primary motivator in human behavior and also addressed the role of inferiority feelings.

John and Isobel Kuhn with Charles Paterson open their first rainy season Bible school, geared to teach the gospel during a season when fewer pursuits are open to the Lisu people of Thailand.

Death in Sydney, Australia, of missionary leader, Florence Selina Harriett Young.

Father Maximillian Kolbe is transferred to the concentration camp at Auschwitz where he will be executed, offering himself in place of a man who has a family.

A communist party congress in Czechoslavkia declares its right to educate children in atheistic Leninism without regard for their parents' religious values.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill which added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Presbyterian Church in the U.S. merged with the Presbyterian Church of North America to form the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA).

Wu Weizun, a staunch Christian, who has suffered severely for his faith in Chinese prisons and camps, is formally released from prison. Because of his persistence in faith and refusal to pretend he has accepted the communist line, the authorities decide to take care of him, giving him a hut, official registration, and a monthly allowance.

Release of US Citizen Eddie Jun Yong-Su, who had been arrested while attempting Christian work in North Korea. He had been beaten so severely he can scarcely walk without help