July 15
1015
Vladimir I of Kiev, the first Christian ruler of Russia,
died (b. ca. 958).
1099 The city of Jerusalem fell to the
Christian invaders in the First
Crusade.
1274 Philosopher, theologian, and mystic
Bonaventure
(born Giovanni di Fidanza) died (b. 1221).
1530 The Roman Catholic
Confutation of the Augsburg Confession was rejected by
the Estates at Augsburg.
1546 The
Schmalkaldic War, a short period of violence from 1546
to 1547 between the forces of Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V and the
Schmalkaldic League, began.
1606 Dutch painter
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born to a wealthy
family in Leyden (Leiden), Holland (d. 4 October 1669).
1636
Christian Knorr, Baron von Rosenroth, hymnist, was born
at Altrauden, Silesia (d. 8 May 1689).
1664
Abraham Ecchellensis (latinized form of Ibrahim al-Haqilani),
a
Maronite Catholic philosopher and linguist involved in
the translation of the Bible into Arabic, died in Rome (b.
18 February 1605).
1779
Clement Clarke Moore, author of “A Visit from St.
Nicholas” (“’Twas the Night before Christmas”), was born (d.
10 July 1863).
1814
Edward Caswall, English Roman Catholic clergyman and
hymnist, was born in Hampshire, England (d. 2 January 1878).
1828 Josiah K. Allwood, American clergyman
and author of the hymn “O They Tell Me of a Home Far Beyond
the Skies,” was born in Harrison County, Ohio. He spent many
years as a circuit rider for the United Brethren in Christ
and later was a presiding elder.
1841 Edward Abbot, Protestant
Episcopalian, was born at Farmington, Maine. He was educated
at the University of the City of New York and at Andover
Theological Seminary. In 1862–1863
he was an agent of the United States Sanitary Commission and
in the latter year was ordained into the Congregational
ministry. Two years later he founded the Steams Chapel
Congregational Church (now the Pilgrim Church) at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, of which he was pastor for four years. In
1872–1873 he was the chaplain of
the Massachusetts Senate. In 1879 he was ordered deacon in
the Protestant Episcopal Church and became a priest in 1880,
serving the parish of Saint James, Cambridge. He refused the
proffered missionary bishopric of Japan in 1889 but held
numerous positions in religious and philanthropic movements.
He was editor of the Boston Congregationalist
and was joint proprietor and editor of the Boston
Literary World from 1877 to 1888 and again from 1895 to
1903.
1845
Wilhelm Sihler (1801–1885)
arrived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to begin his pastorate at
Saint Paul Lutheran Church.
1850
Francesca S. (Mother) Cabrini, the first American
canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, was born in
Lombardy, Italy (d. 22 December 1917).
1900
Matthias Sheeleigh, president of the General Synod and
Gettysburg Seminary and a hymnist, died (b. 29 December
1821).
1939
Franz Friedrich Wilhelm Jakob Lankenau, vice-president
of the Missouri Synod, died (b. 26 April 1868).
1943 The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in British Guiana was
organized.
1965 Lutheran television programs began in
Korea.
1968 William H. Schweppe, first full-time
missionary for the Lutheran Synodical Conference in Nigeria,
died in a motor accident at Mazabuka, Zambia. He was born 29
March 1907 at Saint James, Minnesota. He was educated at
Northwestern College (Watertown, Wisconsin) and Wisconsin
Lutheran Seminary (Mequon), where he graduated in 1932. His
only stateside parish was at Osceola-Saint Croix Falls,
Minnesota, where he served for three years. He was called to
take over the work begun by Henry Nau among the Ibibios in
Nigeria’s Calabar area. Under his leadership a strong
indigenous church was built. He later worked among the Sala
people in Northern Rhodesia (now the Republic of Zambia),
serving at the Lumano Mission on the Sala Reserve until his
death.
