3rd October: Today in Christian History

3rd October, 1226

On this day in Christian History, St. Francis of Assisi died. In his life time, he was a mystic and founder of the Franciscan Religious order. He died in Assisi, Italy, at the age of 44, allegedly after receiving the stigmata from an angel. Assisi was a Catholic friar who venerated nature and instructed his followers to live like Jesus Christ.

3rd October, 1260

On this day in Christian History, the remains of St. Clare of Assisi were transferred from the church of St. George in Assisi to the St. Chiara, specially built to receive her relics. Those who shift her corpse are awed to find that it is “incorrupt,” which they take as proof of her sanctity.

3rd October, 1531

On this day in Christian History, Zwingli and Luther part at Marburg. Zwingli offers his hand, but Luther rejects it. The two had agreed on every issue except the theology of the Lord’s supper.

3rd October, 1690

On this day in Christian History, Robert Barclay died. In his life time, he was a Scot who systematized Quaker theology in his Apology for the True Christian Divinity. He argued that worship that lacks Christ's presence is a sham and that the Bible can only be understood if the Holy Spirit illuminates  a person from within. He had been imprisoned several times for his faith.

October 3, 1691

The Treaty of Limerick is signed, making King William III of England the ruler of Ireland. The defenders of Limerick had fought so courageously that the treaty grants them the right to march out with honors and promises Catholics free exercise of their religion in Ireland.

October 3, 1692

Puritan clergy in Salem, Massachusetts, agree there would be no more executions resulting from the witch trials. More than 150 suspected witches had been put on trial in the previous year, and 19 had been hanged

October 3, 1789

George Washington names November 26 as a day of national thanksgiving for the ratification of the Constitution. On the same date in 1863, Abraham Lincoln designates the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

October 3, 1796

Jean-Louis Anne Madelain Lefebvre de Cheverus settles in Boston, Massachusetts, where he will become the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boston. He will labor among Indians, learning their language, and work hard ministering to Catholics and victims of yellow fever.

3rd October, 1875

On this day in Christian History, James Cameron, a Madagascar missionary, died.

3rd October, 1877

On this day in Christian History, The Union Church of Christ was organized in Japan.

3rd October, 1919

On this day in Christian History, Daniel B. Towner died. He was an American music evangelist, who had worked with Dwight L. Moody and been head of the Music Department of Moody Bible Institute. He had composed more than 2,000 songs, including MOODY (“Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord”), CALVARY (“Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride”), and TRUST AND OBEY (“When We Walk with the Lord”).

3rd October, 1938

On this day in Christian History, Kuang Fuzhou died. He was the first Chinese in the world raised to staff level in the Salvation Army.

3rd October, 1943

On this day in Christian History, Lutheran pastor Kjeldgaard Jensen in Gilleleje, Denmark, reads a letter from his nation’s bishops, instructing Danes to assist in the rescue of Jews from impending Nazi deportation to death camps. The bishops remind their flocks that Jesus was a Jew, that persecution violates the command to love one’s neighbor, and that it is contrary to Danish conceptions of justice. This will inspire the town to hide over 1,300 Jews and transport most of them to neutral Sweden.

3rd October, 1954

On this day in Christian History, Herbert and Alice Ratcliff arrived in British Guinea (now Guyana) as missionaries. They served in Guyana and various Caribbean islands for more than 30 years.

October 3, 1966

Death of Orthodox deacon Ieronymos of Aegina. On account of his zealous, holy, and prayerful life he will be considered a candidate for formal sainthood.