January 10
681: Death of Pope Agatho, a Sicilian, who had played a decisive part in suppressing the Monothelite controversy.
1514: Funded by Cardinal Francesco Jiminez de Cisneros, a New Testament polyglot translation is completed in Spain, combining Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Aramaic texts.
1604: Death of Juliana of Lazarevo (or Juliana of Murom), considered a saint by the Orthodox Church because as a layperson in Russia she lived a righteous life, helping the poor and needy, amidst her care for her own children and others.
1645: Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud is beheaded under a bill of attainder from Parliament.
1858: Frances Havergal, visiting Germany, writes her first popular hymn, “I Gave my Life for Thee” after seeing a painting of the suffering Christ titled Ecce Homo (“Behold the Man”). Thinking the verses of little worth she throws the paper onto a fire but it falls off. When her father sees the words he composes a tune for them.
1863: Death in New York City of Lyman Beecher, famed anti-Unitarian preacher. In addition to pastoral roles in Connecticut and Massachusetts, he had served as president of Lane Theological Seminary in Ohio.
1883: Death of Elling Eielsen, a lay preacher in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the United States. He had migrated to America in 1839 and won many Norwegian emigrants to Christ, traveling the frontier with the gospel message, an axe, a compass, a coffee pot, and rain gear. At Fox River, Illinois, he organized America’s first Norwegian Lutheran congregation—The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.