December 15
340: Eusebius (not the historian Eusebius of Caesarea!) becomes the first bishop of Vercelli, Italy. He was consecrated bishop by Pope Julius I and was influential in having the Nicene Creed restored throughout the empire.
1727: Bishop Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf ordains Peter Bohler, a young theologian who became a leading figure in American and English history as a missionary. He later became a bishop, and an influential leader of the Moravian movement.
1791: Ratification of the United States Bill of Rights, which among other liberties also guaranteed the freedom of religion.
1811: Passing away of Johannes Van Der Kemp in Cape Town, known as a missionary-physician.
1870: Foundation of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church at the meeting of the African-American Methodists from eight local conferences in Jackson, Tennessee.
1990: More than 400 disappointed American Roman Catholic theologians accuse the Vatican of blocking church reforms and imposing “an excessive Roman centralization.” They also criticized that the Vatican had not done enough for a greater role for women, and it has slowed the ecumenical drive for Christian unity and even undermined the collegial functioning of national conferences of bishops.
2011: Saudi Arabia authorities arrest thirty-five Ethiopian Christians for praying in Jeddah, but charge them falsely of illegal meeting in a mixed company of men and women. They even violated the dignity of the women and all these Christians were imprisoned for long and later deported back to Ethiopia.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: https://studylight.org