April 01
774: The magistrates of Rome gather at the outskirts of Rome with much pomp, carrying the banners of the city, to welcome Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, as he makes his first ever pilgrimage to Rome – an Easter Pilgrimage, on the wishes of Pope Hadrian. Charlemagne entered St. Peters on his hands and knees, like any other ordinary pilgrim. He was crowned the Emperor of Rome in 1800 by Pope Leo III at St. Peter’s basilica in Rome.
1229: Martyrdom of Abraham of Bulgaria, an Islamic merchant, at the hands of Muslims, for having converted to Christianity,.
1375: Catherine of Siena, an Italian mystic and peacemaker, receives the stigmata, visible only to herself. Her work The Dialogue of Divine Providence, written while conversing with God in ecstatic states, was read widely. It was she who persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return from Avignon to Rome in 1377. Pope Paul VI declared her a doctor of the church In 1970.
1743: David Brainerd arrives at Kaunaumeek, Massachusetts to serve as a missionary among the Housatonic Indians. He then started a school for Indian children and translated some Psalms.
1787: The Free African Society, a self-help and mutual aid organization, is founded by Richard Allen, an ex-slave and African-American preacher.
1820: Demise of Isaac Milner, a clergyman, mathematician, educator and theological writer at Kensington Gore (London). In his ardent evangelicalism he turned the Queen’s College into a “a nursery of evangelical neophytes” during his term as its president.
1860: Jonathan Goble, a Baptist missionary, arrives with his wife at Kanagawa, Japan. Later, when his wife became ill, he designed a two-wheeled cart with long shafts to pull her in, so as to provide her with “gentle, outdoor exercise.” This model became a hit and soon rickshaws appeared in the entire Far East, providing jobs for thousands of men.
1868: Hampton Institute in Virginia begins its training for the freed slaves with the motto “hand, head, and heart,” ie., with a vocation, academics, and faith.
1872: Death of Christian Socialist F. D. Maurice in London, who had a strong influence on his generation.
1925: British statesman Lord (Arthur James) Balfour dedicates the Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem.
1927: Founding of Eurovision in Chicago, the Protestant overseas missions agency, which specializes in supporting national churches through evangelistic radio, literature and relief work.
1932: Gerhard Kittel, German scholar, publishes the first partial volume of his work Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Due to Woröd War II and Kittel’s death in 1948, this monumental 10-volume work could not be completed until the late 1960s.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org