MAY 7
William of Rubruk’s Unsurpassed Eastern Adventure (1253)
“The King our sovereign lord is not supreme head on earth of the Church of England.”
Ditchfield, P. H. Books Fatal to Their Authors.
Be Doers of the Word (1890)
Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one c...
Events
1274
The Second Council of Lyons convenes with the goal of reunifying the Roman and Greek churches. Attended by approximately 500 bishops, it is ultimately unsuccessful because, although Orthodox delegates agree to recognize the papal claims and recite the creed with the filioque clause, the union is fiercely rejected by the majority of Orthodox clergy and laity.
Authority for the date: Catholic Fact Book.1429
Joan of Arc leads the final charge ending the Siege of Orléans, reportedly after pulling an arrow from her own shoulder or breast. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years’ War.
Authority for the date: Richey, Stephen Wesley. Joan of Arc: the Warrior Saint.1508
Death of Nilus of Sora, a Russian monastic leader who advocated small monastic groups rather than huge monasteries and insisted each monk support himself by useful labor, among which was the copying and correcting of old manuscripts. He advocated mercy toward heretics.
Authority for the date: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Nilus_of_Sora1823
Russian Orthodox bishop John Veniaminov (St. Innocent of Alaska) departs from Irkutsk for Alaska where he will do notable missionary work and translate portions of the Bible into several indigenous languages. He will later serve as Metropolitan of Moscow.
Authority for the date: orthodoxwiki.org/Innocent_of_Alaska1848
While visiting Scotland, Tiyo Soga is baptized. He will become a great South African preacher.
Authority for the date: H.T. Cousins. From Kaffir Kraal to Pulpit: The Story of Tiyo Soga. S.W. Partridge, 1899.1859
Guido Verbeck and other missionaries sail from the United States for the Orient, where Verbeck will become famous for his educational and translation work in Japan and will eventually be honored by the Japanese with the Order of the Rising Sun.
Authority for the date: McLean, Archibald. Epoch Makers of Modern Missions. New York, Chicago [etc.]: Fleming H. Revell company, 1912.1889
Katharine Drexel becomes a postulant [candidate for acceptance into a religious order] with the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where she prepares to found a congregation to serve African American and Native American people who are oppressed by discrimination and dire poverty.
Authority for the date: http://www.katharinedrexel.org/1946
William Marrion Branham, who becomes a faith healer in 1946, will later claim that on this day, May 7, he received an angelic visitation commissioning his efforts. He will make many other controversial claims of contact with God and angels as the years go on, and will eventually declare himself to be the end-time Elijah foretold in prophesy.
Authority for the date: Wikipedia.