OCTOBER 15
GLADYS AYLWARD DREAMED BIG FOR CHRIST AND CHINA (1932)
“Mr. Durant talked to us in chapel this morning on the subject of being honest about our domestic work. Of course some girls are used to working and ca...”
Converse, Florence. The Story of Wellesley.
Look for life after death (1885)
Good to forgive Best to forget! Living we fret, Dying we live. —Robert Browning. We are looki...
Events
1385
Death in prison of Dionysius, the Orthodox archbishop of Suzdal. He had founded a monastery, encouraged his people in their struggle against the Tatars, and spoken out against heretical leaders. One of those who felt the sting of his preaching, Vladimir Olgerdovich, prince of Kiev, arrested and imprisoned him.
Authority for the date: http://oca.org1573
Lutheran scholar Stephen Gerlach delivers a letter in behalf of Lutheran leaders to Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias II to feel out the possibility of a Lutheran-Orthodox union. The overtures eventually fail because differences are too great.
Authority for the date: http://www.patriarchate.org/patriarchate/former-patriarchs/jeremias-ii-1st-time1582
With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, October 5th becomes October 15th.
Authority for the date: Doggett, L.E. “Calendars.” http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html1647
The Larger Westminster Catechism is completed.
Authority for the date: Leith, John H. Assembly at Westminster: Reformed Theology in the Making. John Knox Press, 1973.1846
Isaac Hecker makes his vows. He will form the Paulists, a group determined to win Americans to the Roman Catholic church.
Authority for the date: O'Brien, John A. Giants of the Faith. New York: Image Books, 1960.1894
Rainisoalambo, a diviner on Madagascar, throws away all his amulets and apparatus of divination. The night before, wretched with ulcers, he had called out to the God of Norwegian missionaries and sensed he must get rid of his sorcerous props. Doing so today, he immediately feels a weight lift off him. He knows that he has become a new man and begins reading the Bible. As he assimilates the message of the New Tesament, he will begin soul-winning. A group calling themselves “Disciples of the Lord” will form around him and become an evangelistic force on the island.
Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.1894
Death in Calcutta of Jani Alli, a convert from Islam, who had labored for many years as a Christian educator in Bombay and Calcutta.
Authority for the date: Satthianadhan and Murdoch, Sketches of Indian Christians, 1896. p. 1641906
Death of Samuel Porter (“Sam”) Jones, American Methodist evangelist. Once an alcoholic, he had fulfilled a promise to his dying father to quit drinking and found spiritual power to do so.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.1906
Death in Tokyo of Joseph Schereschewsky, who, while studying as a rabbinic student in Germany, had converted to Christianity, eventually becoming an Episcopalian. He served as a missionary to China and was bishop of Shanghai where he translated the Bible and other Christian works into the Wenli language, continuing work even after he became almost totally paralyzed.
Authority for the date: Episcopal Church. Holy Women, Holy Men.1932
Gladys Aylward sails from Liverpool bent on bringing the gospel to China despite being told by mission boards she is not fit for the task. Her heroic adventures and rescue of over one hundred orphans will inspire the film Inn of the Sixth Happiness.
Authority for the date: ” Gladys Aylward: Marching Orders.” http://www.johndubler.com/Gladys_Aylward--Marching_Orders.pdf