February 25: Today in Christian History

February 25, 1296

Pope Boniface VIII issues the bull Clericis laicos forbidding the clergy to pay taxes to secular rulers without papal consent.

February 25, 1536

Gentle Anabaptist leader Jacob Hutter (from whom the Hutterites take their name) is hunted down and burned to death in Austria after being tortured, whipped, and immersed in freezing water to mock baptismal practices.

February 25, 1570

Pope Pius V promulgates a bull of damnation and excommunication against Queen Elizabeth of England and her followers.

February 25, 1796

Death in New London, Connecticut, of Samuel Seabury, first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America.

February 25, 1862

Death at Hackney, London, of Andrew Reed, a popular Independent minister who founded the London Orphan Asylum, the Asylum for Fatherless Children, the Asylum for Idiots, the Infant Orphan Asylum, and the Hospital for Incurables. He also wrote hymns, such as “Holy Ghost, with light divine” and “Spirit Divine, attend our prayer.”

February 25, 1880

Death of Johann Blumhardt, leader of revival in Germany and founder of Bad Böll, a spa for people with mental, spiritual, and physical ailments.

February 25, 1921

Death in Egersund, Rogaland, Norway, of Lutheran deaconness Elizabeth Fedde who had established a great medical and ministerial work in New York before returning to her homeland.

February 25, 1928

Azer Ata is ordained monk in Egypt and takes the name Mina after Saint Mina. Eventually, he will become Pope Saint Kyrillos VI (Cyril VI in the Coptic Church).

February 25, 1928

An article by Stanley Frodsham in Pentecostal Evangel pays tribute to Swiss-born Paul Bettex, a zealous international missionary who had been assassinated and secretly buried in China fourteen years earlier.

February 25, 1934

Sir Leonard Woolley ends his archaeological dig at Ur, having uncovered much information that would help Christians understand the ancient texts of Scripture.

February 25, 1940

Death in Palo Alto, California, of Mary Mills Patrick, who had been an educational missionary to Turkey. She had turned a girl’s school into the Constantinople Women’s College and kept it open through two wars and a revolution. Courses she had offered included dentistry and medicine.

February 25, 1995

Samandar Singh, hired to kill Sister Rani Maria for exposing exploitive money-lending practices, stabs the nun repeatedly in Indore, India. He will serve eleven years for her murder and be "adopted" by Rani Maria's sister, also a nun, who forgives his action.