Historical Writings

Alexander of Hales, 59, died. An English scholastic theologian, Alexander is regarded as the founder of the Franciscan school of theology.

Trial ends for Juan Gil, aka Doctor Egidio, founder of a little Protestant community at Seville. He had preached to the nuns of Santa Clara on the uselessness of external works, rejected prayer to saints, and disparaged image-veneration as idolatry. He is obliged publicly to abjure some propositions, is sentenced to a year of confinement, forbidden to leave Spain, told that for a year after release he may not celebrate mass, and suspended from preaching, confessing, and participating in disputations for ten years.

Authorities in Geneva write to Vienna asking for information on Servetus. The authorities in Vienna will reply with a demand for his extradition. The Genevan city council will then offer Servetus the choice of returning to Vienna or staying in Geneva to face blasphemy charges. Servetus chooses to remain in Geneva, and is burned to death there.

Death of English metaphysical poet Richard Crashaw in self-imposed exile in Rome. Poison is suspected because he has gotten entangled in political intrigues. He is just thirty-seven.

At three in the morning, Count von Zinzendorf lays his hands on the heads of Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann, commending them to God as the first Moravian missionaries.

Birth of Alexander R. Reinagle, English church organist. He penned many sacred compositions, including ST. PETER, which afterward became the melody to the hymn, "In Christ There is No East or West."

Joseph Mohr is ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. He will write the beloved Christmas carol "Silent Night."

Nat Turner, Baptist preacher and former slave, leads a violent insurrection in Virginia.

African-American clergyman Henry Highland Garnet calls on African Americans to rebel against slavery as a moral duty, pointing out that slaveowners forbid them to read the Bible, to rear their children in godliness, and oblige their women to behave as whores. He says that "neither God, nor angels, or just men" can require such servitude.

Birth of Civilla D. Martin, teacher and songwriter, in Nova Scotia. A pastor's wife, she penned in 1904 the hymn, "Be Not Dismayed, Whate'er Betide" (a.k.a. "God Will Take Care of You").

Popular 19th century preacher Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was accused by Theodore Tilton of committing adultery with his wife. The resulting trial ended in a 9-3 hung jury decision, in Beecher's favor.

Orthodox priest Sergius Frolovich Dmitrievsky, serving in a Cossack parish in Omsk, is arrested by Communists. In October he will be convicted of "counter-revolutionary activity," sentenced to death, and shot.

Pioneer linguistic educator Frank C. Laubach wrote in a letter: 'If this entire universe has a desperate need of love to incarnate itself, then "important duties" which keep us from helping little people are not duties but sins.'

Communist police beat Protestant church leaders Phan Nay, Vong Kpa, and Hnoi Ksor of Ploi Ksing village in Vietnam’s Gia Lai Province.