Historical Writings

The month-long Council of Nicea closed. Known as the first ecumenical council in the history of the Church, it formulated the Nicene Creed and established the method for calculating Easter.

(traditional) Death at Fabriano, Italy, of Romuald. Shocked at seeing his father kill a man in a duel, he became an abbot and went on to found several monasteries in Italy and eventually also the very strict Order of Camaldoli. He was so strict that his monks rebelled against him and smeared him with lies, but his own father followed his example and become a monk, too.

Girolamo Savonarola publishes a letter against his recent excommunication, saying it was fraudulently obtained and arguing that the judgment against him is null and void.

Martin Luther writes from Coburg to his son Hans, telling him of a glorious garden to which he will be admitted if he behaves well, learns his lessons, and says his prayers.

Birth of James VI of Scotland. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, he ascended the English throne as James I. He is best remembered for authorizing the publication known today as the 'King James Version' (KJV) of the Bible.

Richard Fitz and several other separatists are arrested in Plumber's Hall, London, holding a meeting under guise of a wedding. This will be regarded as a red-letter day in the formation of the Congregationalist movement.

Jean de Brebeuf, French Jesuit priest and missionary, arrives in Quebec, Canada. He will be martyred while ministering to Indians.

The pastor of the Salem, Massachusetts, church suggests to his congregation that the New England Psalm book be used in those cases where Mr. Ainsworth's translation has tunes too difficult for the church people.

David Brainerd commences his influential journal when he begins to preach to the Indians at Crossweeksung (in New Jersey).

In Massachusetts, a local council meets and recommends that the connection between Jonathan Edwards and Northhampton church be dissolved. Edwards will be dismissed three days later and will preach his farewell sermon on 1 July.

Death in Haddington of John Brown, a Scottish pastor, author of the Self-Interpreting Bible—a Bible with many marginal notes and comparison of one Scripture to another. He had been a pastor who instructed his flock with a fervor that demonstrated he believed what he taught, and he had generously shared his small income.

Death in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany, of Lord Acton, an English Catholic historian famed for his saying “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

In Spokane, Washington, under sponsorship of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, Father's Day was observed for the first time.

Paul VI canonized John Nepomucene Neumann, the first American-born male saint. As fourth Bishop of the Philadelphia Diocese, Neumann is remembered for developing the parochial school system.

The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring public schools to teach creationism if they taught evolutionism. The court ruled that the state law violated the First Amendment.

The Ecuadorian Christian and Missionary Alliance celebrates with U.S. and Canadian missionaries in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Pastor David Muthre, president of the national church, gives thanks that one hundred and twelve years earlier, George Fisher, J. A. Strain, and F. W. Farnol undertook the evangelization of Ecuador, followed by other Alliance missionaries, including Homer Criswell, who, in 1922, built the first evangelical church in Quito despite fierce opposition.