April 27
ca. 160
Tertullian, Latin ecclesiastical writer, was born,
probably at Carthage, the son of a pagan centurion (d. ca.
230).
1500
Pedro Álvares Cabral (ca. 1467–ca.
1520) took possession of Brazil for Portugal with religious
ceremonies on Easter Monday.
1509
Pope Julius II (1443–1513)
placed the Italian state of Venice under
interdict.
1541 A
conference at Regensburg (Ratisbon) opened between
Lutherans and Catholics. Its purpose was to restore
religious unity in Germany.
1565
Blessed Osanna of Cattaro (also Hosanna, known in
Croatian as Ozana Kotorska), a Catholic Montenegrin
Dominican tertiary, visionary, anchoress and convert from
Greek Orthodoxy, died (b. 25 November 1493).
1605
Pope Leo XI died (b. 2 June 1535).
1613
Robert Abercromby, a Jesuit missionary in Scotland in
the time of the persecutions, died (b. 1532).
1623
Johann Adam Reincken, a distinguished North German
organist who was remarkable for his longevity, encompassing
style and his influence on young organists such as
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750),
was born (d. 24 November 1722).
1688 In an attempt to win popular support
James
II of England (1633–1701)
reissued his Declaration of Religious Indulgence, which
promised no more religious tests and freedom of conscience
forever.
1775
Peter Böhler (b. 31 December
1712), Moravian minister and missionary, died.
1793 The first Synod of the
German Reformed Church met at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
There were 178 congregations and 15,000 communicants
reported. The most important congregations were at
Philadelphia, Lancaster and Germantown, Pennsylvania, and
Frederick, Maryland.
1824
Anne Ross Cundell Cousin, hymnist, was born (d. 6
December 1906, Edinburgh, Scotland).
1844
John Henry Harpster, missionary of the Lutheran General
Synod in India, was born in Center Hall, Pennsylvania (d. 1
February 1911).
1859
George Washington Doane, American Episcopal clergyman
and hymnist, died (b. 27 May 1799).
1862
George Washington Bethune, hymn translator and pastor in
the Reformed Church, died while preaching in Florence, Italy
(b. 18 March 1805).
1893
Christoph Ludwig Eberhardt, Michigan Synod missionary
and president, died (b. 3 January 1831, Lauffen,
Württemberg).
1901
Richard Redhead, composer, died (b. 1 March 1820,
Harrow, England).
1926
Theodore Brohm, director and professor at the Missouri
Synod's teachers seminary at Addison, Illinois, died (b. 10
April 1846).
1950 The Communist-controlled National
Catholic Church was created in Rumania at a congress under
Andreas Agotha, whom Rome promptly excommunicated.
1959 The last Canadian missionary left the
People's Republic of China.
1960 Police in
Nowa Huta,
Poland, tried to remove a cross. Women protested. Men
joined to protect the women from police brutality. Riots
developed. The Communist Party headquarters was burned. This
was one of many religious protests that forced the
Communists to grant a measure of religious leeway to Poland.
1983 Medardo
Gomez, pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection
in San Salvador, and Angel Ibarra, director of medical
services of Lutheran Social Services of El Salvador, were
arrested by the National Police. Gomez was released three
days later. He was president of the Lutheran Synod of El
Salvador, a Missouri Synod partner church with 3,266
members. The previous month he had just been elected
chairman of CONCAP, the council of Missouri Synod-related
churches in Central America and Panama.
1998 Won-Sang Ji, president emeritus of
the Lutheran Church in Korea, died.
