DECEMBER 1
FERRAR STAYED CALM IN CRISIS BECAUSE HE SAW ETERNITY (1637)
“WHEREAS many congregations in this collony are destitute of ministers whereby religion and devotion cannot but suffer much impairment and decay, which...”
Hening, I, 418, quoted in “Laws and Documents relating to religion in early Virginia, 1606-1660,” at Virtual Jamestown.
A thought for the first Sunday of Advent (1871)
And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple—Malachi 3:1 (ESV).See the King desired for ages, by the just...
Events
660
(probable year) Death of Bishop Eligius, at seventy years of age. He is already widely regarded as a saint by the time of his death.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.1521
Death of Pope Leo X, under whose reign Luther and his followers separated from the Catholic church.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.1580
Edmund Campion, English Jesuit, is hanged in England at 42, falsely accused of treason against Queen Elizabeth’s government.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.1589
Edmund Spenser’s poem The Fairie Queen is “entered,” a prepublication step necessary in England's days of government censorship. The author holds Christian beliefs.
Authority for the date: Encyclopedia Americana.1637
Nicholas Ferrar, founder of a Protestant retreat at Little Gidding, makes a solemn confession of faith, preparatory to receiving absolution and Communion for the last time.
Authority for the date: Skipton, H. P. K. The Life and Times of Nicholas Ferrar. London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., 1907.1755
Death of English composer Maurice Greene, who wrote many works for the church, including the anthems “Lord, Let Me Know My End,” and “Oh Clap Your Hands.” A student of Jeremiah Clark, he in turn taught William Boyce and held several prominent musical positions.
Authority for the date: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=217937321817
Death of Justin Heinrich Knecht at Biberach, Germany. He had been one of the great church organists of his time.
Authority for the date: Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal.1857
John Paton is licensed to preach the gospel. As a tract distributor in Glasgow Scotland, he will go door to door winning souls. Eventually he becomes a missionary in the New Hebrides islands.
Authority for the date: Paton, John. Autobiography.1916
Father Charles de Foucauld is martyred at his mission in the Sahara.
Authority for the date: Daniel-Rops, Henri. Heroes of God. Garden City, New York: Echo, 1965.1959
The people’s court in Prague sentences six knights of the Order of St. Lazarus to terms of five to nine years in prison as part of an ongoing repression of religious orders by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
Authority for the date: Hutten, Kurt. Iron Curtain Christians. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1967.1996
Death of Elmon Makwale Sekgobela, a pioneer worker in the opening of the Nazarene mission among the Tswana people in the Western Transvaal of South Africa, where he had experienced serious opposition.
Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.1999
Cuban Communists declare that henceforth citizens will be allowed to celebrate Christmas as an official holiday.
Authority for the date: “Religion in Cuba.” www.libertymagazine.org/