Historical Writings

Relics are installed at the Basilica of St. Thomas the Apostle in Edessa. These will be significant in establishing an upper limit on the date of Egeria’s famed pilgrimage to the Mideast.

Celtic missionary and abbot Columba confronts a monster at Loch Ness, becoming the first recorded observer of the creature. "At the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified," writes his biographer, "and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes."

Paul Craw (Pavel Kravar), Bohemian Hussite, is burned to death in Market Street before St. Andrews in Scotland, the first martyr so burned in that nation. A brass ball has been placed in his mouth so he cannot testify to the crowd.

[or August 23rd] Death at Canterbury, Kent, England, of William Warham, who had been the last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury under King Henry VIII.

Jeanne D'Albret, Queen of Navarre, calls for a conference of her beleaguered Huguenot ministers.

After a four month march over the Alps and across Europe, the Duke of Alva and his forces arrive in Brussels to put down Dutch and Belgian revolt against the repressive Spanish government.

In Massachusetts, English-born colonial missionary John Eliot, 66, founded an Indian church at Martha's Vineyard, with educated Indians Hiacoomes and Tackanash appointed pastor and teacher, respectively.

Isaac Backus is re-baptized, and will become a great Baptist leader of New England.

Death in Lyndon, Rutland, England, of William Whiston, who had been a priest in the Church of England, but left after becoming an Arian. He will long be remembered among English-speaking Christians because he translated the works of Josephus into English.

Death at Hayley, England, of Baron George Lyttelton, author of the witty Dialogues of the Dead, and also of Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul. He considered Paul's conversion sufficient in itself to demonstrate that Christianity was a divine revelation.

Birth of Edward B. Pusey, English biblical scholar and Tractarian spokesman. A devoted church leader all his life, Pusey worked to establish religious orders in Anglicanism, founding in 1845 the first Anglican sisterhood.

Death of Indian convert and hymnwriter Krishna Pal.

Birth of William H. Cummings, English musicologist. In 1855 he adapted a theme from Mendelssohn's "Festgesang," which afterward became the melody of the Christmas carol, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."

Death of Richard Oastler. A champion of social reform, including factory laws in England, he had been fired from his job and imprisoned for debt. During his imprisonment he wrote the Fleet Papers, a weekly journal discussing factory conditions and poor laws. Eventually supporters had raised funds to pay his debt and he was freed.

Death of William P. Mackay, Scottish Presbyterian clergyman and author of the hymn "We Praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy Love." After practicing medicine for a number of years, Mackay had abandoned his career and become ordained a pastor of the Prospect Street Presbyterian Church in Hull in 1868.

Repose (death) from dysentery of Saint Isaac (Antimonov), an elder of the monastery of Optina. Against the wishes of the monks, a bishop had placed him in charge of the monastery, but he overcame their opposition by humility and gentleness.

The Amsterdam Assembly of the World Council of Churches convened (through Sept 4) to ratify the Constitution for this newly-formed experiment in organizational and global Christian unity.

Pope Paul VI arrived in Colombia, making his the first-ever papal visit to South America.