February 12, 1049
Bruno is enthroned as pope, taking the name Leo IX. Among his first acts will be countering threats from antipope Benedict IX. He will endeavor to improve the papal finances which are in woeful condition and correct the abuses of simony and sexual misconduct that are rife among churchmen.
February 12, 1220
Jordan of Saxony, who becomes an early leader of the Dominicans, is accepted into that order.
February 12, 1322
During the night of this, the eve of St. Ermenilda’s day, the central tower of Ely Cathedral collapses.
February 12, 1481
The first Auto da Fe (ie: Act of Faith, a public confession and implementation of sentences) is conducted by the Spanish Inquisition and takes place in Seville. Twelve men and women are burned alive, charged with relapsing into the practice of Judaism.
February 12, 1554
Execution in London of Protestant claimant to the English throne Lady Jane Grey, whose family had used her as a pawn in efforts to overthrow Mary Tudor.
February 12, 1593
An Orthodox synod meeting in the Church of Theotokos Paramythia in Constantinople endorses the decision of Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias II to raise the Metropolitan of Moscow to Patriarchal rank. The Russian patriarch thus becomes the fifth ranking patriarch, after that of Jerusalem.
February 12, 1797
The Emperor’s Hymn (Austrian National Anthem) with music by Franz Joseph Haydn is first sung, on this, the birthday of Francis II, who has been Holy Roman Emperor for about five years. In future, the tune will often be used for the hymn “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.”
February 12, 1834
Death in Berlin of heretical German theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher. He defined religion as “feeling and intuition of the universe” and “a sense of the Infinite in the finite.”
February 12, 1891
Katharine Drexel of Pennsylvania, having given up a large inheritance, founds the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to serve African American and Native American people who are oppressed by discrimination and dire poverty. She uses her fortune to fund the society's work and will found Xavier University in New Orleans.
February 12, 1938
Death of Iosif Trifa, an Orthodox priest in Romania, who had founded the successful revival movement The Lord’s Army. The Orthodox Church will refuse him burial with priestly honors, a position it will later acknowledge as wrong.
February 12, 1983
Araromi Baptist Church (in Nigeria) holds a retirement service for Stephen Abioye Adeoye, who had renounced the kingship of his region in order to preach the gospel.
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