May 13
609 Pope Boniface IV consecrates the Pantheon (a 2nd century Roman temple) as a Catholic church in Rome and introduces the Feast of All Saints. The bones of martyrs from various Roman cemeteries were brought in a solemn procession to the new church.
1248 Following the findings by the Inquisition of blasphemies against Christ in Jewish writings, a sentence is pronounced against the Talmud in Paris. Consequently, twenty loads of books were set on fire. The findings of the Inquisition had prompted the pope in 1239 to order the rulers of several European nations to seize Jewish books.
1291 King Philip the Fair of France addresses a letter to the seneschal of Carcassonne – an administrative body in France – condemning the cruelties of the inquisitors, who even used to convict the living and even the dead fraudulently.
1619 Execution of John Barneveld, a Dutch statesman, in the Hague at the age of 71, for advocating free states and for taking the Arminian side against the Calvinists.
1643 An ordinance for calling Assembly of Learned and Godly Divines at Westminster is introduced into the English House of Commons and will pass a month later.
1665 A statute is enacted in Rhode Island, making the citizenship free of any Christian requirements, thus effectively enfranchising the Jews.
1704 Death of Louis Bourdaloue in Paris, one of the most famous French preachers , who was known as the “king of preachers and preacher of kings,” also because he was frequently called to preach at the court of kings.
1838 Demise of Zachary Macaulay, who belonged to the Clapham Sect (an evangelical social-action group), a slavery abolitionist, and the governor of Sierra Leone.
1839 Birth of William P. Mackey, a Scottish physician who later became a Presbyterian pastor and also wrote several hymns, including “Revive Us Again.”
1874 Pope Pius IX issues an encyclical Omnem Sollicitudinem “On the Greek-Ruthenian rite,” forbidding any changes be made to the Eastern Catholic liturgies, and in particular to the Ruthenian Rite.
1917 Apparition of Holy Mary to three shepherd children from Fatima, Portugal. Since 1930, the Virgin Mary is also called as Our Lady of Fatima.
1925 The State legislature in Tallahassee, Florida passes a bill instructing daily Bible readings a routine in all public schools .
1940 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands arrives in England, fleeing the German invasion of the Netherlands. As a Christian, she rallied her people through weekly radio broadcasts. Three years after the war, she abdicated in favour of her daughter, who took the name Princess Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.
1981 Pope John Paul II is shot at and seriously injured in an assassination attempt by a Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca at St. Peter’s Square, Rome, shoots and. The Holy Father recovered from the wounds and visited Mehmet Ali and embraced him.
2006 Demise of Jaroslav Pelikan, a Christian scholar and church historian, in Hamden, Connecticut. He had written around forty books and over a dozen reference works on different aspects of Christian history. Later in life he joined the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org