October 20: Today in Christian History

October 20, 1751

Pepin the Short, son of Frankish hero Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne, deposed the last of the Merovingian kings and becomes the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. He was crowned by Pope Stephen II, who later asked for his help when threatened by Lombards of northern Italy. Pepin defeated the Lombards, then ceded the territory he captured back to the pope, laying the foundation for the papal states.

October 20, 1349

Pope Clement VI condemns self-flagellation, speaking out against a veritable flagellation frenzy. The practice, first taught by the Benedictine monk Peter Damian in the mid-eleventh century, gained popularity during the thirteenth-century Black Death scare and continues today in isolated incidents.

October 20, 1629

John Winthrop is elected governor of Massachusetts Bay. His journal will become a treasure mine for historians.

October 20, 1820

Tsar Nicholas I issues a decree for resettling Molokans to the remote Caucasus. This small, independent-minded, and somewhat quirky Christian sect was Bible-centered and rejected icons, priests, and church buildings.

October 20, 1833 

Dr. Justin Perkins arrived in Urmi (northwestern Iran) as the first American missionary in that area.

October 20, 1842

Death from consumption of 27-year-old Grace Darling in Northumberland, England. Daughter of a lighthouse operator, she had gained honor four years earlier by persuading her father to assist her in rowing through terrifying waves to rescue nine shipwrecked women and children who had been abandoned by sailors. An admiring public had taken up a £700 subscription to reward her, but she had refused to let that honor or offers of marriage go to her head.

October 20, 1893

Dying Schaff Placed His Trust in Christ 

October 20, 1913

Death of Mary Lathbury, “the Saint of Chautauqua.” She wrote the hymns “Break Thou the Bread of Life” and “Day Is Dying in the West.”

October 20, 1949

The last of the Inklings’ Thursday meetings is held this evening. This group of Christians associated with Oxford included such notable thinkers as J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Owen Barfield.