February 11
1302: Philip IV ‘the Fair’ (denoting how handsome he was and not his moral character), the King of France, publically burns Pope Boniface VIII’s bull Ausculta Fili which exhorted him to correct his ways. Both of them had a strained relationship because Philip IV had tried to tax the church and to bring it under state control. The pope was captured and held hostage for a period of time which paved the way for the Avignon Papacy from 1309 to 1376.
1482: Tomas de Torquemada, who later became infamous due to inquisition, is appointed Grand Inquisitor for Spain.
1526: Luther’s books are burned in public at St. Paul’s church, London; subsequently Thomas Bilney is forced to renounce his reformist views.
1650: Death of Ren  Descartes, French philosopher and Mathematician. He whispered while dying: “My soul, thou hast long been held captive; the hour has now come for thee to quit thy prison…; suffer, then, this separation with joy and courage.”
1779: John Wesley, English founder of Methodism, exhorted in a letter: “Chance has no share in the government of the world. The Lord reigns, and disposes all things, strongly and sweetly, for the good of them that love him.”
1858: The 14-year-old French peasant Bernadette Soubirous gets the first vision of the Virgin Mary In Lourdes, France. She had 18 such visions in the following 4 months.
1933: Repose of Archbishop Simon of Shanghai and Beijing, who contributed a lot to the growth of the Orthodox mission in China.
1948: Peter Marshall, U.S. Senate Chaplain, implored God: “We ask Thee not for tasks more suited to our strength, but for strength more suited to our tasks.”
1989: Rev. Barbara C. Harris is consecrated as the first woman bishop in the Anglican Church, following the 1988 legislation in the Church of England opening the Anglican priesthood to women.
1997: Death of Guiquita Waewae in Ecuador, once a murderer but who later became a Christian and led his people to leave their violent lifestyle.
Edited by:Â T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org