March 15
1493
Christopher Columbus (1451–1506)
returned to Spain from his first voyage.
1517 Needing money to rebuild
Saint Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo X
(1475–1521) announced a special
sale of indulgences. A Dominican named Johann
Tetzel (1465–1519) became the
chief agent of the sale in Germany.
1529 The Second Diet of
Speyer (Spires) opened. Emperor Charles V had ordered
the diet originally for 1 February and later for 21
February. Roman Catholics were in the majority. Decisions of
the 1526 Diet of Speyer were declared ineffective. The 1521
Edict of Worms was declared in effect where it had been
recognized; where Roman Catholicism could not be reinstated
without danger, evangelicals were to be tolerated but put
under certain restrictions till the next general council.
1537 Patrick
Adamson, Scottish prelate, was born in Perth (d. 1592).
1672
Charles II (1630–1685) of
England issued his first
declaration of indulgence, suspending Parliament’s
legislation against Catholic and Protestant dissenters.
1770
William Gardiner, religious composer and historian of
sacred melody, was born (d. 16 November 1853, Leicester,
England).
1831
Theodore L. Byington, missionary to Turkey, was born in
Johnsonburg, New Jersey (d. 18 June 1888).
1833 The Presbytery of Annan deposed Edward
Irving (1792–1834) from the
Presbyterian ministry due to his Pentecostalism and view of
human nature of Christ. He later founded
“The Holy Apostolic Church”
or
“Irvingites.”
1856
Haverford College was chartered in Haverford,
Pennsylvania, the first college in the U.S. to be
established under Quaker auspices.
1868 The cornerstone of the first
Missouri Synod orphanage in Des Peres, Missouri, was laid.
1875 Archbishop John
McCloskey (1810–1885) of New
York became the first American to be named a cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church.
1896
Charles William Schaeffer, hymnist and General Synod
president, died in Philadelphia (b. 5 May 1813, Hagerstown,
Maryland).
1910
Johann Heinrich Niemann, president of the Central
District of the Missouri Synod, died (b. 11 April 1848).
1916 Eric
Norelius, Swedish American Lutheran theologian, died (b.
26 October 1833, Hassela, Helsingland, Sweden).
1961 Arnold Krentz died at Fort Wayne,
Indiana (b. 14 February 1896, Dorchester, Wisconsin). He
graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1920 and
served as a pastor in Canada and Michigan. From 1941 to 1961
he served as the superintendent of the Lutheran Deaconess
Association in Fort Wayne, Indiana. During that time he also
taught at Valparaiso University.
