Historical Writings

Death of Martin Rinkart, an extraordinary pastor who wrote the beloved hymn "Now Thank We All Our God" in the midst of the sufferings of the Thirty Year's War.

Jesuit explorer-missionary Jacques Marquette reaches St. Ignace on the straits of what will become the state of Michigan.

Death of the English non-conformist pastor, Richard Baxter, considered the greatest preacher and probably the best-known religious author of his day.

Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'This is faith: a renouncing of everything we are apt to call our own and relying wholly upon the blood, righteousness and intercession of Jesus.'

Adoniram Judson, formerly an infidel, writes in his journal: "This day I made a solemn dedication of my life to God." He will go on to become one of America's most famous missionary pioneers.

Pope Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in his apostolic letter, "Ineffabilis Deus." It asserted that by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, Mary was freed from original sin "in the first instant of conception."

Death in Queenstown, Cork, Ireland of Father Theobald Mathew, a Roman Catholic priest notable for persuading tens of thousands in Ireland and England to pledge themselves to abstain from alcohol.

The First Vatican Council begins. It will declare papal primacy over the entire church (not just Roman Catholicism) and papal infallibility.

Death from blackwater fever of Peter Scott, pioneer missionary to Africa and a founder of the African Inland Mission.

Rose Lathrop and Alice Huber found the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, also known as Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer.

The brothers Vladimir and Alexis Korotkov enter the Belogorsk monastery. In 1918 the Soviets will torture and kill them and destroy the monastery.

Christmas seals were sold for the first time, to raise funds to fight tuberculosis. Today, Christmas seal income is used primarily in the fight against birth defects.

Dorothy Day prays at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for inspiration for her future work. She goes back to her New York apartment to find Aristide Pierre (Peter) Maurin awaiting her in the kitchen; He had been told to look her up. They will found the Catholic Worker Movement the following year.

Japanese police arrest some students and fifteen faculty members at the Christian school Yanjing University in Beijing.

Anglican scholar and apologist C. S. Lewis reads his paper "Petitionary Prayer" to the Oxford Clerical Society. The paper raises issues about praying in complete confidence (which the Bible seems to command) versus praying with the caveat "Thy will be done," of which we have no less an exemplar than Jesus himself.

Ordination of 22-year-old Omar Cabrera in Argentina. Already president of an Assembly of God youth organization and secretary for the national Assembly of God, he will become an internationally-known evangelist, leader of revival in Argentina, and pastor of one of the world's largest churches - Vision of the Future Church.

The Rev. John Melville Burgess was consecrated as suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts -- the first African American bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church to serve a predominantly white diocese.

In Bogotá, Columbia, Argentine-born Luis Palau leads his first city-wide evangelistic meeting. It includes a parade and lasts five days with considerable success. Inspired by the techniques of Billy Graham, large-scale evangelistic events will become a hallmark of Luis Palau's ministry.

In one of its major rulings regarding the issue of the separation of Church and State, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of student organizations holding religious services at public colleges and universities.