March 9
320: (traditional date) Forty Christian soldiers are sentenced to die on ice by Agricola, the governor of Armenia for refusing to renounce Christ. The soldiers strip themselves saying, “What is death for us but an entrance into eternal life?”
395: (traditional date) Passing away of Gregory of Nyssa, one of the three great Trinitarian Cappadocian fathers (the others being Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus).
1463: Demise of St. Catherine of Bologna who became popular through her work Treatise on the Seven Spiritual Weapons Necessary for Spiritual Warfare in which she also elucidated her visions.
1498: The Signoria (Lordship) of Florence holds a public meeting to decide the fate of Girolamo Savonarola, whom Pope Alexander VI had censured. After eight days of deliberations, they commanded Savonarola to cease preaching.
1509: Martin Luther conferred the Bachelor of Bible degree from the University of Erfurt.
1661: Death of Jules Mazarin (who was made a Cardinal in 1641) in Vincennes. As the First Minister of France, his delegates helped negotiate the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which brought an end to the eight-year-war between Germany, Dutch and Spain – the last phase of the Thirty Years War in Europe.
1833: Melville Cox from the United States reaches Liberia to serve as a missionary and dies there within four months. His courageous and fearless attitude and his heroic death boosted the missionary spirit of the Methodist church.
1839: Birth of Phoebe Palmer Knapp, American Methodist hymn-writer, who published more than 500 hymn tunes during her lifetime, including the tune to Fanny Crosby’s hymn, “Blessed Assurance.”
1843: Robert Murray McCheyne, Scottish clergyman, reflected in a letter, “You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm.”
1901: Death of Methodist missionary and author William Arthur at Cannes, France. As a well known missionary to India, he also wrote several successful books about his missionary work and on faith and became an internationally-known leader in his denomination.
1913: Death of Eberhard Nestle, Bible scholar, in Stuttgart, Germany. He devoted much time to compare the early texts of the Bible and thus prepared a reconstruction of the probable original text.
1931: The World Radio Missionary Fellowship (WRMF) is incorporated in Lima, Ohio, by Clarence W. Jones and Reuben Larson, its co-founders. This inter-denominational mission agency broadcasts the Gospel in 15 languages to South America and throughout Europe at present.
1948: Death of hymn-writer Civilla Durfee Martin in Atlanta, Georgia, whose gospel hits include “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power,” “God Will Take Care of You,” and “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”
1956: The British send Makarios III, the archbishop of Cyprus, into exile, holding his outspokenness a threat to the island’s peace.
2011: Muslim gangsters assault Christian garbage collectors in Cairo’s Mokattam district, injuring at least one hundred and thirty people. They burn homes and destroy garbage trucks and recycling plants. Getting no help from the government till the next morning, nine Christians and a Muslim homeowner succumb to injuries.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org