August 8
449 The
Second Council of Ephesus convened as the fourth
ecumenical council of the church. It was convoked at
Ephesus under the authority of Emperor
Theodosius II and with the agreement of
Pope Leo I of Rome. Its controversial acts were never
approved by the pope, thus denying the council ecumenical
status in the west; subsequently, they were formally
repudiated at the
Council of Chalcedon. The Second Council of Ephesus came
to be called the Robber Council of Ephesus, Robber Synod or
Latrocinium by its opponents.
1567
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba (1507–1582),
after a four-month march over the Alps, arrived in the
Netherlands to put down a Protestant revolt.
1635
Roger Williams (1603–1684) was
sentenced to banishment by Massachusetts for his differing
religious views. In exile he founded Rhode Island on
principles of freedom of conscience.
1770
Wilhelm Tobias Ringeltaube, missionary to India, was
born in Scheidelwitz near Brieg, Lower Silesia (d. Fall
1816). [Bautz
Kirchenlexikon article]
1796
Peter Williams, Welsh hymnist, died (b. 15 January 1723,
Llansadurnin, Carmarthenshire, Wales).
1835
Adam Martin, first president of Northwestern College
(Watertown, Wisconsin), was born in Budershausen, Bavaria
(or on August 9; d. 18 May 1921).
1837
Jacob Matthias Buehler, pioneer pastor of the Missouri
Synod on the Pacific Coast, was born in Baltimore, Maryland
(d. 28 August 1901).
1843 Peter
Abbelen, priest and spiritual director, was born in
Germany (d. 1917). He was ordained in Milwaukee in 1868 but
joined the La Crosse Diocese. After eight years of pastorate
he became spiritual director to the School Sisters of Notre
Dame in Milwaukee, where they had been established since
1850. This congregation had come to the USA from Germany in
1847 to minister to German-speaking immigrants. Abbelen
became embroiled in a dispute over jurisdiction in
nationalistic parishes and the use of English in schools.
The subsequent division of the Congregation for the
Propagation of the Faith is considered unfavorable to him.
He was made a domestic prelate in 1907.
1845 Thomas
Koschat, Austrian composer of sacred music, was born
near Klagenfurt, Austria (d. 19 May 1914, Vienna, Austria).
1850 Günther
Kurze, pastor at Bornshaim, Saxony and a voluminous and
well-informed author on missions, was born.
1852 The roots of the
Baptist General Conference were established when
Swedish-born immigrant minister Gustaf Palmquist baptized
his first three converts in the Mississippi River at Rock
Island, Illinois.
1877 The first meeting of the
Synodical Conference Mission Board for African American
missions was held.
1877 Walter Bauer,
Lutheran theologian and lexicographer, was born in
Koenigsberg, Germany (d. 17 November 1960).
1893
Otto Albert Ferdinand Geiseman, pastor, author and
part-time Lutheran Hour speaker, was born in Sioux City,
Iowa (d. 7 November 1962).
1922 William
H. Jude (b. September 1851), English sacred organist,
died.
