September 18
53
Marcus Ulpius
Trajan, emperor of Rome from 98 to 117, was born (d. 9
August 117). He was the third Roman emperor, after
Nero (54–68)
and
Domitian
(ruled 81–96), to
persecute the early Christian Church. During his reign the
apostolic father
Ignatius of Antioch
(b. ca. 35) was martyred in 107.
96
Domitian, Roman Emperor, died (b. 24 October 51).
324
Constantine the Great (ca. 280–337)
decisively defeated
Licinius (ca. 250–325) in the
Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine’s sole
control over the Roman Empire.
1630
Melchior Klesl, Austrian cardinal and statesman, died
(b. 19 February 1552).
1643
Gilbert Burnet, Scottish prelate, was born in Edinburgh,
Scotland (d. 17 March 1715).
1663
Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint, died (b. 17
June 1603).
1673
Justus Gesenius, hymnist and German Lutheran court
preacher, died (b. 6 July 1601, Esbeck, Germany).
1684
Johann Gottfried Walther, German music theorist,
organist, and composer, was born (d. 23 March 1748).
1698
Kornelius Dretzel, composer, was born at Nürnberg
(d. 7 May 1775).
1757
Moses Henkel, Methodist preacher (only non-Lutheran
pastor among the early Henkels), was born (d. 28 July 1827).
1765
Oliver Holden, early American Puritan composer, was born
at Shirley (near Boston), Massachusetts (d. 4 September
1844).
1765
Pope Gregory XVI was born (d. 1 June 1846).
1845 A Document of Separation was signed at
Cleveland by nine pastors leaving the Ohio Synod. Most
eventually joined the Missouri Synod. The nine included
Wilhelm Sihler
(1801–1885) and
C. A. T. Selle
(1819–1898).
1851 The
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Northern Illinois was
organized at Cedarville, Illinois.
1859
Karl Johannes Voskamp, Lutheran missionary in China, was
born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 20 September 1937).
1876
Martin Enoch Waldeland, professor and editor of Augsburg
Publishing House, was born in Gundey, Clayton County, Iowa
(d. 30 December 1933).
1877
G. Adam Reichert, traveling missionary in western
Pennsylvania, died (b. 1795).
1884
Horace Greely B. Artman, missionary to India, died at
Rajahmundry, India (b. 23 September 1857).
1884 The Brooklyn Tabernacle was packed for the
funeral of
Jerry
McAuley (b. 1839), founder of New York’s
Water Street Mission, a
pioneer among American rescue missions.
1898
H. L. Jenner, hymn translator, died at Preston-Next-Wingham,
Kent, England (b. 6 June 6, 1820, Chislehurst, Kent,
England).
1905
George MacDonald (b. 10 December 1824), Scottish
novelist and poet, died.
1927 Michael J. Stelmachowicz was born in Saint
Louis, Missouri (d. 30 December 2009, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin).
He was a graduate of Saint John’s College (Winfield,
Kansas), Concordia Teachers College (Seward, Nebraska) and
Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis, Missouri). During his
career he served as a Lutheran teacher, principal of
Lutheran High School South (Saint Louis), professor and dean
of students at Concordia Teachers College (Seward),
superintendent of the Lutheran High School Association of
Greater Detroit, Michigan; president of Saint John’s College
and Concordia Teachers College (Seward) and executive
director of the Board for Higher Education of the Missouri
Synod.
1930
Carrie E. Rounsefell (b. 1 March 1861), music evangelist
from New England, died.
1943 The Jews of
Minsk are massacred at
Sobibor.
1961
Dag
Hammarskjöld, Swedish
statesman and peacemaker, died in a plane crash en route to
negotiate a ceasefire between
Katanga troops and
United Nations forces in Africa (b. 29 July 1905).
1962 The Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and
Ministers International (FGFCMI) was established in Dallas,
Texas, by Gordon and Freda Lindsay. In 1967 its name was
changed to
Christ for the Nations.
1965 Russian Baptists broke from their forced
union with other Christians and formed their own
Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians, Baptists.
1985 Rudolph C. Prange died in Valparaiso, Indiana
(b. 24 March 1900). He graduated from Concordia Seminary
(Saint Louis) in 1924 and served as pastor in Saint Louis
and Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas,
before serving as a missionary to the Philippines from 1947
to 1962. He later served as pastor in Waynesville, Missouri,
and was also a circuit counselor. He retired in 1972.
1994 Arthur Leonard Miller died (b. 28 April 1907).
He received his bachelor’s degree from Concordia Teachers
College (River Forest, Illinois) in 1927 and his master’s
degree and doctorate from the University of Chicago. From
1946 to 1972 he served as the executive secretary for the
Board for Parish Education of the Missouri Synod. Before
joining the synodical staff in 1946, he taught for twenty
years at Nazareth Lutheran School (Chicago). Concordia
Teachers College (Seward, Nebraska) awarded him an honorary
doctorate in 1965.
