February 23
Born c. 69, Polycarp was a central figure in the
early church. A disciple of the evangelist John, he linked
the first generation of believers to later Christians. After
serving for many years as bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp was
arrested, tried and executed for his faith on 23 February
ca. 156. An eyewitness narrative of his death, The Martyrdom
of Polycarp, continues to encourage believers in times of
persecution. [From "Commemorations Biographies,"
Lutheran Service Book, LCMS Commission on Worship]
303 Diocletian (ca. 245–ca. 312) began
his great persecution, issuing edicts that called for church
buildings to be destroyed, sacred writings burned,
Christians to lose legal rights and clergy to be imprisoned
and forced to sacrifice to the emperor. The following year
he went even further, ordering all people to sacrifice to
the emperor on pain of death.
1455 Johannes Gutenberg (ca. 1398–1468) began
printing the Bible, the first book printed on a press with
movable type.
1662 Johann Crueger, hymnist, died at Berlin
(b. 9 April 1598).
1685
George Frideric Handel, musician and composer, was born
at Halle (d. 14 April 1759).
1704 Andrew Grassman, traveling missionary in
Germany, Sweden, Lapland and Greenland, was born in
Senftleben, Moravia (d. 25 March 1783).
1719 Bartholomäus
Ziegenbalg, the first German Lutheran missionary to
India, died (b. 24 June 1683).
1813 Franz Delitzsch, Lutheran Old Testament
scholar, was born at Leipzig (d. 4 March 1890).
1816 John E. Bode, Anglican clergyman, was born
in London (d. 6 October 1874, Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire,
England).
1848
John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States,
died (b. 11 July 1767, Braintree, Massachusetts). He wrote
Version of the Psalms and a number of hymns, some of
which appeared in the 1841
Christian Psalmist.
1849 Hans Gerhard Stub, professor and president
of Luther Theological Seminary (Saint Paul, Minnesota) and
president of the Norwegian Synod, was born near Muskego,
Wisconsin (d. 1 August 1931).
1877 Karl Gustav Henry Kretzmann, curator of
Concordia Historical Institute and secretary of the Atlantic
District, was born in Dudleytown, near Seymour, Indiana (d.
3 April 1949, Saint Louis).
1891
Leopold Moczygemba, a Polish-born Catholic priest
chiefly recognized as the founder of the first permanent
Polish settlement in the United States at
Panna Maria, Texas, died (b. 18 October 1824).
1904 Pope Pius X (1835–1914)
issued the Apostolic Letter Scripturae Sacrae, which
empowered the Pontifical Biblical Commission to confer
college degrees in scriptural studies within the Roman
Catholic Church.
1923 Immanuel Lutheran College, North
Adelaide, Australia, opened.
1937 Hans Achelis, German church historian and
professor at Königsberg, Halle, Bonn and Leipzig, died (b.
16 March 1865) in Leipzig. [German
Wikipedia article]
1961 The National Council of Churches
endorsed artificial contraception as an aid to family
planning.
1968 John William Behnken, president of the
LCMS from 1935 to 1962, died in Saint Louis, Missouri (b. 19
March 1884, Cypress, Texas).
1995 Roland P. Wiederaenders Sr. died in
Clifton, Texas (b. 11 July 1908). He graduated from
Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1936 and served as a
pastor in Bammel, San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas. He
served on the Missouri Synod Board for Parish Education, as
vice-president and president of the Texas District (1950–1959)
and as synodical vice-president (1959–1973).
He retired in 1974.