July 4
325: Emperor Constantine appears before the Council of Nicea which he had assembled, because he believed, “Division in the church is worse than war.”
371: Martin is consecrated the third bishop of Tours, against his will. He is known as the Patron saint of France and the popular legend about his sharing his overcoat with a beggar in winter after which Jesus appeared to him in a dream bearing the face cut of the figure, is very influential in the entire Christian world. He was forced into the Roman army but declared after his conversion, “I am Christ’s soldier: I am not allowed to fight.” He founded a community of hermits at Ligugé, the first monastery in Gaul and became the first leader of the western monasticism. He used to retire to the monasteries to escape the world.
431: A large crowd gathers in a church in Constantinople chanting, “Many years to Pulcheria! Many years to the empress!” to show their support to the Christological views which empress Pulcheria had put forward at the Council of Ephesus.
473: The mortal remains of Martin of Tours shifted from a small church to the new and larger Church of St. Martin of Tours.
1187: Christians lose the Battle of Hattin to Saladin in Palestine, a significant point in the history of the crusades.
1533: John Frith (Fryth), accused of heresy, is burned at the stake in Smithfield by King Henry VIII of England.
1648: Antoine Daniel, a Jesuit missionary to Iroquoian-speaking nations in North America and who taught the Hurons many hymns in their own language, is martyred by the Iroquois, the rivals of Hurons.
1831: Samuel Francis Smith, a Baptist clergyman, pens the American patriotic hymn, ‘America’ (‘My Country’, ’tis of Thee’), unaware of the irony that England’s national anthem: ‘God Save the Queen’ was sung to the same tune!
1832: The first public performance of the national hymn “America” at a children’s celebration of Independence Day, at the Park St. Church, Boston.
1840: Birth of American sacred composer James McGranahan, whose most enduring melodies include “Christ Returneth,” “My Redeemer, Neumeister” (‘Christ Receiveth Sinful Men’) and “Showers Of Blessing.”
1841: Death of Finis Ewing in Lexington, Missouri, who co-founded the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
1844: Captain Allen Gardiner starts the Patagonian Mission.
1870: Birth of James Moffatt, the Scottish New Testament scholar, who translated the New and Old Testaments into the colloquial English of his day in 1913 and in 1924 respectively, but which were first published only in 1935.
1948: Kathryn Kuhlman, later a well-recognized evangelist and faith healer, preaches her first sermon in Carnegie Hall.
1998: An “Orthodox Congress” demonstrates in Jerusalem, supported by the Palestine Authority, aiming at taking control of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org