February 12
1049: Consecration of Bruno, Bishop of Toul in France, as pope, who took the name Leo IX. One of his initial tasks was to counter the threats from anti-pope Benedict IX. Considered as one of the most significant popes in the middle ages, he took steps to improve the papal finances, which were in a distressing condition, and to correct the abuses of simony and sexual misconduct among churchmen.
1322: The central tower of Ely Cathedral, the Anglican cathedral in Ely, England, collapses during the night.
1481: The first Act of Faith (Auto da Fe), a public confession and implementation of sentences, is conducted by the Spanish Inquisition and takes place in Seville.
1593: An Orthodox synod meeting in Constantinople ratifies the elevation of the Metropolitan of Moscow to Patriarchal status by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias II. The Russian patriarch thus became the fifth ranking patriarch after Jerusalem.
1807: Henry Martyn, Anglican missionary to Persia, confesses in his journal: “amazing patience, He bears with this faithless foolish heart and suffers me to come, laden with sins, to receive new pardon, new grace, every day! Why does not such love make me hate sin that grieves Him and hides me from His sight?”
1891: Katharine Drexel of Pennsylvania, having renounced a huge inheritance, founds the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to serve Americans, especially the Africans, who are oppressed by discrimination and poverty. She funded the society’s work with the same wealth and later established the Xavier University in New Orleans.
1938: Death of Iosif Trifa, an Orthodox priest from Romania, who had founded The Lord’s Army (“Oastea Domnului”), a successful revival movement. The Orthodox Church refused him a funeral with priestly honors, which it later regretted.
1948: Emergence of the Pentecostal awakening known as the “Latter Rain Movement”, after students at the Sharon Orphanage and Schools in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada began experiencing a mass spiritual awakening.
1952: The debut broadcasting of the Roman Catholic program “Life is Worth Living” on television. Conducted by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, the half-an-hour program aired on Tuesday nights, became the longest-running religious TV series of its day and continued till February 1957.
1962: Karl Barth, Swiss Reformed theologian, predicted in a letter: “The day will come when we shall no longer speak of Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians but simply of Evangelical Christians forming one body and one people.”
1983: Araromi Baptist Church in Nigeria honors Stephen Abioye Adeoye with a retirement ceremony; he had renounced the kingship of his region in order to become a preacher.
Edited by:Â T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org