February 13
1200: Death of Venerable Simeon the Myrrh-Gusher, previously Stephen Nemanya, the king of Serbia, who had united Serbian groups and became an ascetic monk in his old age. His relics are supposed to have exuded the fragrance of myrrh.
1236: Death of Jordan of Saxony by drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, a noted Dominican preacher, who had written a biography of St. Dominic. His sermons influenced Albertus Magnus to join the Dominican order; Magnus was later canonized and was known as Saint Albert the Great.
1413: Convocation of a national synod in Bohemia to discuss John Wycliffe’s teachings. Jan Hus, the chief propagator of Wycliffe’s teachings, could not be present, as he was in exile. The synod later adjourned without coming to agreement.
1793: Death of Christian F. Schwartz at Thanjavur, India. He was known as the ‘Apostle of India’ among the protestants.
1888: Death of Jean Baptiste Lamy at Santa Fe in New Mexico; he was the first archbishop of Santa Fe.
1904: Death of pioneer Lutheran missionary to India Theodore Karl Naether at Krishnagiri.
1936: Missouri Synod in the US organizes the Lutheran Army and Navy Commission for the purpose of appointing chaplains for military service and to minister to Lutheran personnel among the military abroad. Its name was changed to the Armed Services Commission in 1947.
1949: Death of Minnie Cumming Watson at Dundee in Scotland; she was the first female missionary of the East Africa Scottish Mission and mainly instrumental in establishing a system of Christian schools for the Kikuyu people of Kenya.
1951: Death of American Congregational clergyman and novelist Lloyd C. Douglas. His well known religious novels include ‘Magnificent Obsession’ (1929), ‘The Robe’ (1942) and ‘The Big Fisherman’ (1948).
1973: The National Council of U.S. Catholic Bishops issues a decree warning that anyone undergoing or performing abortion would be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
2001: Vietnamese authorities arrest Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly for demanding religious freedom. He was jailed many times before, for the same “crime”.
2011: Police conduct a raid during a service at the Baptist church in Gomel, Belarus, and arrest pastor Nikolai Varushin for “holding an unauthorized religious service.”
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org