1215 - The Fourth Lateran Council closed, under Innocent III. It was this council that made first official use of the term "transubstantiation," with reference to the Eucharist (Lord's Supper).
1530 - German reformer Martin Luther remarked: 'Whenever I happen to be prevented by the press of duties from observing my hour of prayer, the entire day is bad for me.'
1554 - Roman Catholicism was (briefly) restored to England, under the reign of Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. In the process, "Bloody Mary" had Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and nearly 300 other Protestant leaders burned at the stake.
1729 - Birth of Samuel Seabury, first bishop of the American Protestant Episcopal Church. (Following the American Revolution, Seabury helped formulate the constitution which made the American Protestant Episcopal Church independent and autonomous from the Church of England.)
1894 - In Naperville, Illinois, seven groups of the Evangelical Association withdrew from the organization to form the United Evangelical Church. (In 1922 the two denominations reunited.)
© 1987-2011, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
