March 4: Today in Christian History

March 4, 1303

Death of Daniel, Grand Prince of Moscow, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky. He had received as his inheritance a lowly domain centered on Moscow, which he ruled peacefully. Through wise alliances and a timely defeat of the Tatars, he had raised Moscow to preeminence. According to tradition, he founded two monasteries. He became a monk himself shortly before his death. Three and a half centuries later the Russian Orthodox Church will declare him a saint.

March 4, 1621

Death in Brussels of Ana de Jesús, a discalced (shoeless) nun who had founded several branches of the Carmelites. She had been a close associate of Teresa of Avila. The church will soon declare her “Venerable.”

March 4, 1805

President Thomas Jefferson in his second inaugural address requests prayer and recalls divine blessings.

March 4, 1827

Death in India of Sheikh Salih, a notable Indian Christian. At his baptism he had taken the name Abdul Masih, meaning “servant of the Messiah.”

March 4, 1849

Newly-elected president of the United States Zachary Taylor refuses inauguration on Sunday out of respect for the Lord’s day but is inaugurated on Monday.

March 4, 1866

Death in Bethany, West Virginia, of Alexander Campbell, co-founder of the Stone-Campbell movement that later will diverge into Disciples of Christ and various Churches of Christ.

March 4, 1890

Death in Leipzig, Germany, of Franz Delitzsch, German Lutheran Old Testament scholar and theologian, a Christian Hebraist. His greatest contribution to biblical scholarship was an Old Testament commentary he published in collaboration with J. F. K. Keil.

March 4, 1901

Death in Northfield, Massachusetts, of American evangelist Daniel W. Whittle, author of several popular hymns including “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing,” “Have You Any Room for Jesus?” “I Know Whom I Have Believed,” and “Moment by Moment.”

March 4, 1906

William Seymour, having preached that tongues is the Bible evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, is padlocked out of the Los Angeles church at which he had been invited to preach. This will force him to continue his ministry in a private home and soon prompt him to rent space on Azusa Street where revival will break out.

March 4, 1963

Gaspar Makil, a Filipino missionary to Vietnam, his young daughter Janie Makil and Elwood Jacobson, a missionary from the United States, are killed by the Vietcong while travelling to the Makil home.

March 4, 2011

Pastor Shi Enhao is beaten for preaching in Nanyang, Henan Province, China. Later that year he will be sent to a labor camp for re-education.

March 4, 2011

A mob of thousands of Muslims burns down the Coptic church of Saint Mina and Saint George in Soul, Egypt, about nineteen miles from Cairo. Authorities at first refuse to send assistance, although they will later rebuild the church.