December 1: Today in Christian History

December 1, 660

Death of Bishop Eligius, at seventy years of age. He is already widely regarded as a saint by the time of his death.

December 1, 1521

Death of Pope Leo X, under whose reign Luther and his followers separated from the Catholic church.

December 1, 1580

Edmund Campion, English Jesuit, is hanged in England at 42, falsely accused of treason against Queen Elizabeth’s government.

December 1, 1589

Edmund Spenser’s poem The Fairie Queen is “entered,” a prepublication step necessary in England's days of government censorship. The author holds Christian beliefs.

December 1, 1637

Nicholas Ferrar, founder of a Protestant retreat at Little Gidding, makes a solemn confession of faith, preparatory to receiving absolution and Communion for the last time.

December 1, 1755

Death of English composer Maurice Greene, who wrote many works for the church, including the anthems “Lord, Let Me Know My End,” and “Oh Clap Your Hands.” A student of Jeremiah Clark, he in turn taught William Boyce and held several prominent musical positions.

December 1, 1817

Death of Justin Heinrich Knecht at Biberach, Germany. He had been one of the great church organists of his time.

December 1, 1857

John Paton is licensed to preach the gospel. As a tract distributor in Glasgow Scotland, he will go door to door winning souls. Eventually he becomes a missionary in the New Hebrides islands.

December 1, 1916

Father Charles de Foucauld is martyred at his mission in the Sahara.

December 1, 1959

The people’s court in Prague sentences six knights of the Order of St. Lazarus to terms of five to nine years in prison as part of an ongoing repression of religious orders by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.

December 1, 1996

Death of Elmon Makwale Sekgobela, a pioneer worker in the opening of the Nazarene mission among the Tswana people in the Western Transvaal of South Africa, where he had experienced serious opposition.

December 1, 1999

Cuban Communists declare that henceforth citizens will be allowed to celebrate Christmas as an official holiday.