April 13
385: Bishop Ambrose of Milan defies the orders of the Roman empress to surrender one of his churches for use by Arians during Easter Week and thereby risks imprisonment and death. Even as the church was surrounded by the imperial troops, the bishop continued to hold mass five times the day, although the church was ultimately capitulated.
799: Demise of Paulus Diaconis, the monk who had been invited to Charlemagne’s court to compile a book of homilies from the church fathers; the work later received wide circulation throughout the empire. He also prepared an accurate history of the Lombards and authored numerous other historical and religious works.
1059: Pope Nicholas II decrees that the future Popes can be elected only by the Cardinals.
1598: France’s King Henry IV of Navarre promulgates the Edict of Nantes, granting religious freedom to the Protestant-Huguenots.
1663: Repose of Meletius Syrigos, one of the most learned Orthodox preachers and theologians of his day, in Constantinople.
1824 Passing away of the Christian poet Jane Taylor in England at the age of 40. She was the author of the nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
1853: Loyola College in Baltimore is chartered under Roman Catholic auspices.
1871: Emissaries of the Paris Commune enter the city’s deaconess house at 10 p.m., holding revolvers in hand and demanding a statement from the deaconesses if any of them was abused by the sisters in charge. None of them speaks badly of the sisters although held captive till 3 a.m.
1939: Delegates from independent Baptist churches conduct the first association of the Southern Baptists in California.
1948: Representatives of fifteen local congregations organize the Baptist General Convention of Oregon-Washington at the Antioch Baptist Church of Portland, the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.
2014: Demise of Mahay Choramo of the Wolaitta Kale Heywat Church of Ethiopia, who had evangelized widely in the Omo region and suffered many imprisonments and tortures for preaching the gospel, sometimes even at the hands of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He even went naked when a particular culture demanded the same but gradually brought the people to wearing clothes.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org