THIS DAY IN CHRISTIAN HISTORY: December 13 Looking back on the history of Christianity and the Church, we notice that it is sometimes violent, sometimes inspiring, shocking, tragic, comic, or just plain bizarre. It is certainly never dull. Our Christian heritage was passed down to us through blood, sweat and tears, but mostly by the faith of our fathers. The church age as we know it is coming to an end very soon. Be very blessed and informed as you read these brief notations on the successes and failures of Christianity throughout the ages. December 13, 37: Nero, the Roman emperor who was the scourge of early Christians, is born. After his suicide in 68, many believed he would return, and false Neros appeared throughout the eastern provinces. December 13, 304: Lucy, one of the earliest Christian saints to achieve popularity, dies. According to legend, she renounced marriage out of devotion to Christ, but a spurned suitor convinced Roman authorities to force her into a life of prostitution. When this was unsuccessful, they tried to burn her to death, but she wouldnt catch fire. Finally, she was killed by the sword. More realistically, she was probably one of several Christians killed in the Diocletian persecution. But within a century of her death, she had a remarkable following. December 13, 1124: Pope Calixtus II died. After defeating Emperor Henry V in battle, Calixtus was able to resolve the controversy between Church and state over investiture (rulers wanted to appoint bishops). He also made peace between England and France. December 13, 1204: Death of Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon), 69, medieval Jewish scholar and author. His greatest writing, Guide of the Perplexed (1190) attempted to harmonize Aristotelian philosophy with rabbinic Judaism. Dec. 13, 1294: To the shock of the Christian world, Pope Celestine V. resigns the papacy, having first issued a controversial constitution allowing popes the right to do so. December 13, 1250: Frederick II, the messianic German Emperor (1212-1250) who fought repeatedly and heatedly with popes, dies suddenly of dysentery at age 55. He called himself lord of the world; others either praised him as stupor mundi (wonder of the world) or damned him as Antichrist. December 13, 1294: After issuing a constitution giving popes the right to quit, Pope Celestine V shocks the world by resigning. An aged, nearly incoherent hermit when he was chosen to succeed Pope Nicholas IV, Celestine was desperately unsuited for the job and served only 15 weeks before Cardinal Gaetani, masquerading as a voice from heaven, convinced him to step down. Gaetani then became the infamous Pope Boniface VIII, and he imprisoned Celestine until the old mans death. December 13, 1545: The first session of the Counter- Reformation Council of Trent opens. Responding to the spread of Protestantism and the drastic need for moral and administrative reforms within the Roman Catholic church, it met on and off for 18 years. Ultimately the reforms were not comprehensive enough to satisfy the Protestants or even many Catholics, but it created a basis for a renewal of discipline and spiritual life within the church. December 13, 1698: The First Baptist Church of Philadelphia was formed. December 13, 1823: Birth of William W. How, Anglican clergyman. Shunning the glory of higher ecclesiastical positions, How was known for his work among the poor in East London. He also wrote 50 hymns, of which We Give Thee But Thine Own and For All the Saints remain two of his most popular. December 13, 1835: Birth of Phillips Brooks, American Episcopal clergyman. Though he produced ten volumes of sermons, he is better remembered today as author of the Christmas carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem, written in 1868 for the children of his Sunday School. December 13, 1837: Father German, the heart of the Orthodox mission to the Kodiak of Alaska, died on this day. With him the mission ended for a time. December 13, 1851: Birth of E.O. Excell, American sacred chorister. Excell published 50 gospel songbooks and wrote and composed 2,000 hymns, including Since I Have Been Redeemed, Count Your Blessings and Ill Be a Sunbeam for Jesus. December 13, 1895: Gustav Mahlers “Second Symphony”, The Resurrection, was first performed in completion. Rise again, my dust, after a brief rest—You were not born in vain, sang the artists. The performance, which took place in Berlin, was a triumph, and the work remains one of the masterpieces of religious composition. However, Mahler did not believe there really would be a judgment. The program notes declared, There is no punishment and no reward. An overwhelming love illuminates our being. December 13, 1930: Igor Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms”, a work for chorus and orchestra, is first performed in Brussels. The piece is a setting of the Latin Vulgate translation of Psalms 39, 40, and 150. Stravinsky believed that “the principal virtue of music is (as) a means of communication with God.” December 13, 1938: The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany. December 13, 1949: the Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. December 13, 1950: American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: I think God is to be glorified by asking the impossible of Him. December 13, 1985: Dutch-born Catholic priest and educator Henri J. M. Nouwen reflects in “The Road to Daybreak,” I must pray for the strength and courage to be truly obedient to Jesus, even if he call me to go where I would rather not go.” December 13, 1988: Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat gives a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland after the United States authorities refused to give him a visa to enter the United States. My sources for this daily post are --- Wikipedia, Christianhistory.net, Chinstitute.org, StudyLight.org, and books by William D. Blake, A. Kenneth Curtis and Daniel Graves. ---be very blessed and get ready for God’s best.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:09:24 +0000