February 19

843 Empress Theodora reinstated icons once and for all in the Eastern churches, effectively ending the iconoclastic controversy.

1377 John Wycliffe (ca. 1320–1384) stood trial in London’s Saint Paul’s Cathedral for his criticism of the church.

1473 Nicolaus Copernicus, Prussian Polish astronomer and cleric, was born (d. 24 May 1543).

1546 Justus Jonas (1493–1555) delivered the funeral oration for Martin Luther at Eisleben.

1568 Myles Coverdale (b. ca. 1488), translator and publisher of the first complete Bible to be printed in English (1535), was buried.

1592 Patrick Adamson, Scottish prelate, died at Saint Andrews (b. 1537).

1776 The first baptism of an Eskimo by a Lutheran pastor took place in Labrador.

1812 New England Congregational missionary Adoniram Judson (1788–1850) and his wife Ann set sail from Salem, Massachusetts, to Calcutta, India, for the first time.

1818 Albert Bushnell, D.D., "Patriarch of West African Missions," was born in Rome, New York (d. 1879).

1821 James Allen Brown, professor at Newberry College, South Carolina, and president of the General Synod, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (d. 19 June 1882).

1827 Niels Pedersen Grunnet, who organized the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Denmark, was born in North Bjert, near Kolding, Denmark (d. 13 January 1897).

1849 Bernard Barton, England’s “Quaker Poet” and hymnist, died at Woodbridge, England (b. 31 January 1784).

1861 The New Jersey Synod was organized at German Valley, New Jersey, by six pastors and four laymen, who had received their dismissal in 1859 from the New York Ministerium.

1862 Olaf Elias Brandt was born in Monterey (near Oconomowoc), Wisconsin (d. 20 February 1940).

1862 Julius Richter was born in Germany. He served as a pastor at Proettlein (1887–1896) and at Schwanebeck (1896–1912). He was a lecturer on missions at Berlin University beginning in 1913. He became president of the Brandenburg Missionary Conference in 1908 and was a well-known and prolific writer on missions (d. 28 March 1940).

1869 Elizabeth Clephane (b. 18 June 1830), Scottish poetess, died.

1881 William Adam, Baptist and Unitarian missionary to India, died in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England (b. 1 November 1796).

1920 Jacob Fry, professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary Philadelphia, died (b. 9 February 1834, Trappe, Pennsylvania).

1941 A. A. Grossmann, teacher, first executive secretary of the Walther League and assistant manager of Concordia Publishing House, died (b. 18 February 1890).

1948 Ralph Herman Long, executive director of the National Lutheran Council, died (b. 3 December 1882, Loudonville, Ohio).

1999 Viji George was chosen as president of Concordia College (Bronxville, New York). George had been a professor of psychology at the school since 1979. A native of Madras, India, he graduated from Concordia Teachers College (River Forest, Illinois) and received a doctorate from Northern Illinois University in 1979.