DECEMBER 29
Robert Boyle Converted in a Thunderstorm (1640)
“I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace. But in the name of Almighty God I forbid you to hurt my peopl...”
Grim, Edward. Life of St. Thomas Becket.
Without Christ, we are a row of zeroes (1907)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge—Proverbs 1:7 (KJV). You may set down six zeroes—000,000&m...
Events
1170
Archbishop Thomas à Becket is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights of King Henry II.
Authority for the date: Thurston, Herbert. “St. Thomas Becket.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 11563
Death of Sebastian Castellio at Basle, Switzerland. He will be remembered for his book Concerning Heretics, calling for religious tolerance.
Authority for the date: Zweig, Stefan. The Right to Heresy or, How J1824
Death of Basiliscus, a founder of monasticism in Siberia.
Authority for the date: Russian Wikipedia.1876
Death of hymnwriter P.P. Bliss in a fiery train wreck, when a bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio, fails and his train plunges into a ravine. He had written many notable hymns, including “Hallelujah, What a Savior!” and “Almost Persuaded.” It will be remarked that the night before his death he sang, “I’m going home Tomorrow.”
Authority for the date: Duffield, Samuel Willoughby. English Hymns; their Authors and History. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1886.1899
Sidney Brooks becomes the first victim of the Boxer Rebellion. Assaulted near Tai’an, China, he is beaten and pricked with knives, led about with a rope through his nose, forced to stand in his underwear in freezing conditions, and finally beheaded after he manages to flee to a nearby ravine. The following year, tens of thousands of Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries will perish in massacres by the Boxers.
Authority for the date: Paul Hattaway, China’s Christian Martyrs. p. 1371903
Death in Vineland, New Jersey, of Thomas B. Welch. A fervent Methodist, he had entered the ministry at nineteen but left because of problems with his voice. He had then become a physician and a dentist who sold alloys on the side until that became his main business. A temperance man, he had promised a recovering alcoholic that he would find a way to make a non-alcoholic communion drink. He did so but didn’t succeed in marketing the product. His son Charles will be more successful with Welch’s grape juice.
Authority for the date: Chazanof, William. Welch’s Grape Juice; From Corporation to Co-Operative. Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University P1911
Death of Chicago’s Pentecostal leader William Hamner Piper of a blood infection.
Authority for the date: Turning Points in the History of American Evangelicalism1932
Conversion of Allen Yuan, who will become a Chinese evangelist.
Authority for the date: Personal letter.2000
Argentina declares the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (said to be the oldest Protestant church building in South America) a National Historic and Artistic Monument. The declaration also establishes a Russian Orthodox church and a Jewish synagogue as historic and artistic monuments.
Authority for the date: http://servicios.infoleg.gob.