31st December: Today in Christian History

31st December, 439

On this day in Christian History, Death in Jerusalem of Melania the Younger, known for her charity, and for founding two convents.

31st December, 1770

On this day in Christian History, America’s first-known “watch-night” service is held at St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

31st December, 1864

On this day in Christian History, Abraham Lincoln proposes to his cabinet that the US Constitution be amended to recognize “the Deity.” The proposal is met with disapproving silence and dropped.

31st December, 1871

On this day in Christian History, George Leslie Mackay, first foreign missionary of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, arrives in Taiwan where he will establish over sixty churches, a hospital, and several schools. He will cause controversy by marrying a Taiwanese slave woman, but she will become an indispensable co-evangelist with him.

31st December, 1887

On this day in Christian History, Australia’s oldest Roman Catholic church, called the Church on the Hill, is ready for worship.

31st December, 1922

On this day in Christian History, Iosif Trifa, an Orthodox priest in Vidra de Sus (now Avram Iancu), anguished at the wickedness of his parishioners, falls to his knees in prayer. He conceives the idea of issuing a call in a magazine he edits—a call for a New Year’s resolution to fight against sin in the coming year. “The Calling to a New Life in Christ” is successful. Trifa becomes a Wesley-like revivalist figure in Romania and suffers at the hands of both church and state.

31st December, 1979

On this day in Christian History, the Feast of the Circumcision [which honours Christ’s circumcision eight days after his birth] becomes known as the Feast of the Holy Name in the revised Book of Common Prayer.

31st December, 1989

On this day in Christian History, Chinese Communist officials meet with evangelist Nora Lam to clear up “misunderstandings” that had earlier blocked her getting a visa to preach in China. She learns that China has approved a cultural exchange program operated by her ministry.