May 21: Today in Christian History

 

21st May, 1382

• On this day in Christian History, a great earthquake in England destroyed some churches in Kent and damaged the Canterbury Cathedral.
• On this day in Christian History, the "Earthquake Synod" in London, led by Archbishop Courtenay, condemned 24 theses from the writings of John Wycliffe as heretical.

21st May, 1471

On this day in Christian History, the renowned German artist, Albrecht Dürer, was born in Nuremberg. He is celebrated for his contributions to art during the Renaissance and is believed to have converted to Protestantism in the 1520s. 

21st May, 1535

On this day in Christian History, Henry Phillips betrayed William Tyndale to Roman Catholic authorities in Antwerp. Phillips, an agent of Henry VIII, already had a long track record of villainy. Tyndale was strangled and burned.

May 21, 1536

William Farel preaches so effectively in Geneva that its people swear an oath with lifted hands “to live in the holy evangelical law and the word of God as it has been announced to us desiring to abandon all masses, images, idols and all which may pertain thereto to live in union and obedience to justice.” They also vow to set up a school for poor children and to educate their children.

May 21, 1872

Death on the Isle of Mull of hymnwriter Mary Macdougal Macdonald. The daughter of a Baptist cleric, she wrote in Gaelic. Her best known hymn is “Child in the Manger.”

May 21, 1874

Ira Sankey first sings “The Ninety and Nine” (the “Lost Sheep” song). His audience is deeply moved.

May 21, 1884

Fourteen-year old Matrona Petrovna Frolova enters the Krasnoslobodsky Trinity women's monastery in Penza province. Four years later she will become a nun at Kazan. In 1907 she will receive a Red Cross medal for her work during the Russo-Japanese war. She becomes abbess of a Kazan monastery, where she will make every possible defense against its dismantling by the Soviets. She will be arrested many times in succeeding years, deprived of her right to vote, and shot in her old age.

May 21, 1891

George Louis Williams is ordained as a Congregational minister at Oberlin College, Ohio. He will become a missionary to China where he and his wife will work among opium addicts. Williams will be murdered in the Boxer Rebellion but his wife will heroically continue the mission work.

May 21, 1921

Baptism of Jeremiah Mahalu Kisula. He will become the first bishop in Tanzania for the Africa Inland Mission, recognized as a prayer-warrior, church planter, and author.

May 21, 1972

Laszlo Toth, wielding a hammer, and shouting “I am Jesus Christ—risen from the dead,” attacks Michaelangelo’s sculpture the Pieta, chipping the nose and left eye of the Madonna, and breaking off her left arm.

 

 

 

 

May 21, 1527

Anabaptist leader Michael Sattler was executed in Rottenburg, Germany, for his beliefs. His wife was drowned eight days later. 

May 21, 1536

The General Assembly of Geneva officially adopted the Reformation, separating from the Roman Catholic Church. John Calvin arrived in Geneva two months later. 

May 21, 1738

Charles Wesley, co-founder of Methodism, experienced an evangelical conversion while ill. This event deeply influenced his subsequent ministry and hymn writing. 

May 21, 1780

English Quaker and social reformer Elizabeth Fry was born in Norwich, England. She is best known for her efforts to improve prison conditions. 

May 21, 1789

The first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States convened in Philadelphia, marking a significant organizational development for American Presbyterians. 

May 21, 1832

Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire. His missionary work had a profound impact on the spread of Christianity in China. 

May 21, 1864

The Ionian Islands were reunited with Greece, an event celebrated by the Greek Orthodox Church. 

May 21, 1871

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America swore a covenant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reaffirming their commitment to their doctrinal standards.