April 26: Today in Christian History

April 26, 865

Death of Paschasius Radbertus, who wrote an influential book affirming that the Eucharist contains the true, historical body of Jesus Christ.

April 26, 1569

Queen Elizabeth I of England issues a special license allowing John Seconton to hold Sunday games because he has fallen on hard times and has four children to feed. She requires local authorities to send “four or five good substantial men” to keep the peace.

April 26, 1630

On this day in Christian History, George Herbert was appointed by the Earl of Pembroke to the parishes of Fugglestone St Peter and Bemerton St Andrew, near Salisbury. There he wrote notable Christian poetry and preached sermons comprehensible to a rural audience.

April 26, 1731

(Uncertain date; April 24 is also often given.) Death of Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe and Journal of the Plague Year, works of fiction noted for their versimilitude, which he wrote from a Puritan non-conformist point of view. He had been hiding from creditors and was found dead, hence the uncertainty of the date of his death. Two centuries after Defoe’s death, Neesima Shimeta, a Japanese youth, will be converted to Christianity through reading Robinson Crusoe.

April 26, 1865

On this day in Christian History, German missionary, Ernst Faber arrived Hong Kong where he helped to create a Chinese-Christian literature by having Chinese associates write their own books in consultation with him. He also worked with the Chinese officials to import and apply European technology in China.

April 26, 1877

On this day in Christian History, residents of Minnesota observed a statewide day of prayer, set by Governor John Sargent Pillsbury, imploring deliverance from a plague of grasshoppers that had been ravaging their crops. Many families were on the verge of starvation. In the next two days after the statewide day of prayer, a warm weather caused millions of larvae to wiggle to life and skeptics scoffed; but a plunge in temperature on the fourth day froze and killed them. A chapel was later built at Cold Spring to commemorate the miracle.

April 26, 1969

On this day in Christian History, Emmanuel Oladele Agboola was unanimously elected to chair the 56th annual session of the Nigerian Baptist Convention in acknowledgment of his hard work and zeal for souls. His contemporaries recognize him as one of Nigeria’s greatest indigenous pastors and educators as well as a humble and kind man.

April 26, 1995

On this day in Christian History, Azmy Mokhtar Aziz, a Coptic Christian, was murdered in the city of Malawy, one of several Copts targeted there in that year.