February 10: Today in Christian History

February 10, 1675

American Indians capture Mary Rowlandson and her three children during King Philip’s war in Massachusetts and hold them for ransom. Five years later she will write the first “captivity narrative” which she titles The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.

February 10, 1856

Anthony Mary Claret, Archbishop of Santiago and tireless worker for justice and reform, is wounded at Holguin, Cuba, by an assassin who lays his face open from ear to jaw with a razor. His calls for an end to racism and oppression had roused opposition.

February 10, 1886

Death in Paignton, South Devon, England, of William H. Brett, who had for forty years done notable linguistic and mission work in British Guiana.

February 10, 1913

Michael Platonovich Krasnoperov is consecrated as the first bishop of the Orthodox diocese of Akmolinsk, under the name Bishop Methodius. In 1921, the Bolsheviks will execute Methodius as an example to rebellious peasants, stabbing him and thrusting his cross into one of the wounds.

February 10, 1973

Under the dictatorship of Idi Amin, Christians are shot in a stadium in Kabale, Uganda.