MAY 17
Rev. Flynn Advocated a Flying Ambulance for Australia's Outback (1928)
“On Friday May 17 before Whit Sunday in the year 1521, came tidings to me at Antwerp, that Martin Luther had been so treacherously taken prisoner for h...”
Moore, T. Sturge. Albert Dürer. 1905.
We Wait with Longing
Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence o...
Events
1527
Roman Catholics in Rottenburg, Germany, try the Sattlers, an Anabaptist couple. Michael Sattler will be burned at the stake on the 20th of the month.
Authority for the date: Dyck, Cornelius J. An Introduction to Mennonite history. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 19671575
Death of Archbishop Matthew Parker at Lambeth, London. He had been largely responsible for the religious “settlement” that made the Church of England distinct from Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and non-Lutheran forms of Protestantism.
Authority for the date: Britannica1834
Execution of Chinese Christian Peter Liu Wenyuan who had spent over thirty years in exile as a slave for his faith.
Authority for the date: Paul Hattaway, China’s Christian Martyrs. p. 731972
The Hutu Father Michael Kayoya of Berundi, a small nation in eastern Africa, is executed. He is one of thousands executed in genoicidal murder. About one half of all Catholic catechists in Berundi will be killed.
Authority for the date: Hastings, Adrian. History of African Christianity, 1950-1975. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000.1992
Pope John Paul II beatifies Josephine Margaret Fortunata (ca. 1869–1947), who as a Sudanese slave had been nicknamed Bakhita, “the lucky one.” Sold again and again, she had experienced great cruelty until an Italian consul ransomed her. In Italy she had converted to Christianity and had joined the Canossian Sisters with whom she remained the rest of her life, gaining renown for her humility and holiness.
Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.2007
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) signs an Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate but retains its independent hierarchy, the only change being that when it elects a new First Hierarch, his election must be confirmed by the Patriarch of Moscow. In turn, ROCOR agrees to recognize the Patriarch of Moscow as the head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church.
Authority for the date: Blech, Annalise. The Russian Orthodox Church: History and Influence. University of Texas at Austin, 2008.