1540: In a show of growing support for Henry VIII, Waltham Abbey in
Essex became the last monastery in England to transfer its allegiance from the Catholic
Church to the newly-established Church of England.
1744: In
London, composer George Frederic Handel's famous oratorio "Messiah" was
performed for the first time.
1877:
Mormon fanatic John Doyle Lee was executed by a firing squad for masterminding the
Mountain Meadows Massacre. In 1857, a wagon train of 127 Arkansas Methodist emigrants,
bound for California, were killed by a party of Mormon settlers and Paiute Indians at
Mountain Meadows (near Cedar City), Utah.
1892:
Birth of George Arthur Buttrick, English Presbyterian pastor and educator. A teacher at
both Union Theological Seminary and Harvard University, Buttrick is best remembered as
chief editor of The Interpreter's Bible (1952-57).
1966:
Archbishop of Canterbury Arthur Michael Ramsey met and exchanged public greetings with
Pope Paul VI in Rome. It was the first official meeting between heads of the Anglican and
Roman Catholic churches in over 400 years.
Source: William D. Blake. Almanac
of the Christian Church, Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987. Additional
information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)
