January 31
314: Silvester becomes the Pope. A milestone in his pontificate was the council of Nicea, which condemned Arianism.
366: Athanasius, who was expelled five times for his theological positions, returns to Alexandria where he could spend the last seven years of his life. He was the defender of orthodoxy against Arianism.
828: The relics of Evangelist Mark, brought from Alexandria, arrive in Venice. As a sign of gratitude, Venice later adopted Mark as their patron saint.
1561: Death of Menno Simons in Germany. Expelled from the Catholic Church for his Anabaptist position, he could attract lots of followers, who were later called the Mennonites, after their founder.
1752: The First Profession of Rev. Sr. Martha Turpin at the Ursuline Convent in New Orleans, Los Angeles. She became the first American-born woman to become a nun in the Catholic Church.
1839: Church of Scotland clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: “Is not a Christian’s darkest hour calmer than the world’s brightest?” He died very young, at the age of 39.
1888: Death of Giovanni “Don” Bosco, a well known educator and the founder of the Salesian order. As a passionate catholic priest, he won young people for Jesus and was canonized in 1934.
1939: Josiah Mtekateka was ordained a deacon. He could overcome racism to become the first black African bishop of the Anglican Church in Malawi.
1949: Jim Elliot, an American missionary who had had to give his life for the Gospel, wrote in his journal: “One does not surrender a life in an instant – that which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime.”
1990: Ninety-year-old Catholic priest Philip Wang Ziyang dies in Chinese labor camps after spending forty years there. As a man of character and possessing firm Christian will, he refused an early release in 1978, because the terms of release violated his conscience.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org