14th February: Today in Christian History

14th February, 270

On this day in Christian History, Valentine, a priest in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II, is beheaded along the Flaminian Way.

14th February, 1009

On this day in Christian History, Bruno of Querfert (also known as Boniface) and his associates, were martyred by Lithuanians.

14th February, 1532

On this day in Christian History, Calvin acquired the degree of Licentiate (Bachelor) of Laws at Orleans.

February 14, 1556

Protestant reformer Archbishop Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury is degraded from his office with humiliating ceremonies following the rise of the Roman Catholic Mary I to power. Cranmer had incurred the enmity of Mary years earlier when he granted King Henry VIII his divorce from Mary’s mother Catherine.

14th February, 1568

On this day in Christian History, Turks in Larissa, Greece, martyred the Orthodox monk Damian after many days of torture, complaining that his teachings caused sales to drop on Sundays.

February 14, 1596

On this day in Christian History, Archbishop John Whitgift began to build a “hospital” (a home for the elderly and infirm) at Croydon from his own resources. He also built and endowed a free-school and a chapel. Over the entrance of the hospital, he inscribed the words: QUI DAT PAUPERI NON INDIGEBIT [Who gives to the poor will not lack]. Although charitable, he was a high churchman who favoured ritual and consequently persecuted Puritans who opposed it.

14th February, 1805

On this day in Christian History, Harvard confirms Henry Ware as Hollis Professor of Divinity. Because he is a Unitarian, denying the full divinity of Christ, Congregationalist teachers, loyal to the doctrine of the Trinity, will begin withdrawing from the school.

14th February, 1942

On this day in Christian History, Chen Sulan was shipwrecked and captured by Japan’s secret police while fleeing Japanese invaders of China. A Methodist, he had fought against the Chinese government’s monopolistic sale of opium and had established an anti-opium clinic that rehabilitated close to seven thousand addicts. He had also been a founder of the Chinese YMCA. After World War II, he set up a trust that funded the Scripture Union and Methodist groups.

14th February, 1953

On this day in Christian History, Andrew Kagura of Kenya was martyred for his outspokeness against the Mau Maus.