January 25
The Conversion of Saint Paul
98 On the sudden death of Emperor Nerva,
Trajan
(53–117) took the throne. In 110
he asked
Pliny the Younger (61/63–ca.
113) to investigate a new superstition, “Christianity.”
Pliny's report of a relatively harmless though widespread
cult led to moderate persecution and the first recognition
that Christians were distinct from Jews.
389
Gregory of Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of
Constantinople, died (b. 329).
1554
Jesuit priests
José de Anchieta (1534–1597)
and
Manoel da Nóbrega (1517–1570)
established a mission at
São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, which grew to
become São Paulo, Brazil.
1586
Lucas Cranach the Younger, artist, died (b. 4 October
1515).
1627 Noted physicist and chemist
Robert Boyle was born in Ireland (d. 30 December 1691).
After a lifetime of writing about science, religion and the
harmony between the two, he provided in his will for an
annual eight-lecture series defending Christianity against
unbelievers.
1740
Christopher Emanuel Schultze, Lutheran pastor in
Pennsylvania and son-in-law of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg,
was born in Saxony, Germany (d. 9 March 1809).
1767
Johannes Stauch, president of the Ohio Synod and a
pioneer Lutheran pastor in Ohio and Kentucky, was born in
York County, Pennsylvania (d. July 1845).
1807
William Adams, American Presbyterian and president and
professor of sacred rhetoric and pastoral theology at Union
Theological Seminary, was born at Colchester, Connecticut
(d. 31 August 1880).
1825
Edward H. Bickersteth, Anglican clergyman and hymnist,
was born in Islington, England (d. 16 May 1906).
1841
Anglican clergyman
John Henry Newman
(1801–1890) published Tract 90 (in
a series begun in 1833), an argument for a catholic
interpretation of the Anglican Thirty-nine Articles. It was
the pinnacle of the Oxford Movement but the last straw for
the bishop of Oxford and others. Newman was forced to resign
his parish, and he converted to Roman Catholicism four years
later.
1858 The
Wedding March by
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
became a popular wedding recessional after it was played on
this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter,
Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.
1863
Rufus M.
Jones, American Quaker philosopher and educator, was
born at South China, Maine (d. 16 June 1948).
1871 Oscar F. Rusch, teacher and professor, was
born in Germany (d. 25 November 1940, Chicago). He graduated
from the Missouri Synod teacher seminary at Addison,
Illinois, in 1889 and served as a teacher at Ottawa, Ontario
(1889–1891), and Chicago, Illinois
(1891–1916). He became a professor
at Concordia Teachers College (River Forest, Illinois) in
1916.
1887
Rowland Prichard, Welsh hymnist, died at Holywell, North
Wales (b. 14 January 1811, Graienyn [near Bala], North
Wales).
1897
Johannes Deinzer, assistant to J. K. Wilhelm Loehe, died
(b. 2 September 1842).
1897 In an encyclical of
Leo
XIII (1810–1903),
Officiorum et Munerum, “all
versions (of the Bible) in the vernacular, even by
Catholics, are altogether prohibited, unless approved by the
Holy See, or published under the vigilant care of the
bishops, with annotations from the Fathers of the Church and
learned Catholic writers.”
1905 Andrew J. Buehner was born at Clayton, South
Dakota (d. 4 May 1984, Saint Louis). He attended Concordia
College (Saint Paul, Minnesota), graduated from Concordia
Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1928 and spent most of the next
twenty-two years as a missionary in India. He was secretary
for the Trivandrum District (1928-1929, 1945-1947) and
director of education in Kerala (1945-1950). After returning
to the United States, he served on the Board of Directors
for the Northern Nebraska District (1954-1957) and as an
editor at Concordia Publishing House (1961-1973).
1907 Social reformer and author
Julia
Ward Howe (1819–1910),
composer of the
“Battle Hymn of the Republic,”
became the first woman elected to the National Institute of
Arts & Letters.
1944
Florence Li
Tim-Oi
(1907–1992) of Macao became the
first woman in the Anglican Church to be ordained a priest.
1959 At St. Paul's Outside the Walls,
Pope
John XXIII (1881–1963) first
announced his intention to summon the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council.
1960 The Nigeria Bible Institute was dedicated.
1964
Jacob Tanner, professor at Concordia College (Moorhead,
Minnesota) and Luther Seminary (Saint Paul, Minnesota), died
(b. 15 October 1865, Molde, Norway).
