January 31
1537
Martin Luther left for Smalcald with the
Smalcald Articles.
1559
Menno
Simons
(b. 1496), early Dutch Anabaptist leader, died.
1606
Guy Fawkes
(b. 13 April 1570) was executed for his role in the
Gunpowder Plot by Roman Catholic restorationists in
England to assassinate King James I the the Protestant
aristocracy and nobility by blowing up the Houses of
Parliament.
1686
Hans Egede,
Lutheran Apostle of Greenland, was born in Frondenaes,
Norway (d. 5 November 1758, Stubbeköbing, Falster Island,
Denmark).
1686 King
Louis XIV of France
(1638–1715), having already
revoked the Protestant-tolerating Edict of Nantes, ordered
all
Waldensian
churches burned.
1737
Jacob Duché, Episcopal
clergyman and chaplain to the Continental Congress, was born
in Philadelphia (d. 3 January 1798, Philadelphia).
1784
Bernard Barton, hymnist, was born in London, England (d.
19 February 1849, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England).
1797
Franz
Peter Schubert, Austrian composer, was born in a suburb
of Vienna (d. 19 November 1828).
1798
Edward Osler, hymnist, was born at Falmouth, Cornwall,
England (d. 7 March 1863).
1831
Alexander B. Bruce, Free Church of Scotland theologian,
was born (d. 7 August 1899).
1833
Luther Alexander Gotwald, American Lutheran theologian
and educator, was born (d. 15 September 1900).
1851
Oluf H. Smeby, hymn translator, was born in Rock County,
Wisconsin (d. 6 July 1929, Albert Lea, Minnesota).
1892
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, English Baptist preacher and
one of the greatest public speakers of his day, died at
Mentone, France (b. 19 June 1834).
1915
Thomas
Merton, Roman Catholic Trappist monk, was born in Prades,
France (d. 10 December 1968).
1933
Louis Wessel, professor at Concordia Theological
Seminary (Springfield, Illinois), Lutheran theologian and
homiletician, died (b. 14 July 1864, Saint Louis).
1955
John R.
Mott (b. 25 May 1865), Methodist layman and founder of
the World Student Christian Federation, died.
