Historical Writings

Repose (death) of Alexander the abbot of Svir. He had led a saintly existence as a hermit and had built a church dedicated to the Trinity.

An order from a high-ranking Chinese official reaches Jesuits in Nanjing. It encourages arrest and torture of all who will not denounce their faith in the Lord of Heaven. Among its victims are Jesuits Alphonse Vagnoni and Alvarõ Semedo, who will die in prison of torture and starvation.

Colonial religious teacher Anne Hutchinson, 46, was charged with "traducing (i.e., degrading) the ministry" and was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Moving the following year to Rhode Island, then to New York, Anne and her family were killed by Indians in 1643.

Baptism of William Paley, who becomes a famous Christian apologist, noted for his argument of watch and watch-maker.

Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'The exercised and experienced Christian, by the knowledge he has gained of his own heart and the many difficulties he has had to struggle with, acquires a skill and compassion in dealing with others.

Birth of George F. Root, American sacred music editor and composer. Root helped edit 75 musical collections, as well as composing several hundred original sacred melodies. One of these, JEWELS, is the tune to which is commonly sung the hymn, "When He Cometh."

Wilberforce University was established in Xenia, Ohio under auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1863, the university was transferred to the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.

Independent Christian evangelist and educator Bob Jones, Sr. was converted at age 11 to a vital Christian faith. Licensed to preach by the Methodists at 15, Jones maintained a lifelong fundamentalist view of the Bible. In 1926, at age 32, he founded Bob Jones University.

Boxer rebels in China execute missionaries Willie and Helen Peat, their children and associates.

Death of John Joseph Williams, who had been the first Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston.

Mexican evangelist Juan Lugo preaches the first-known Pentecostal message in Puerto Rico. In 1920 he will found Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal in Puerto Rico.