June 19 in Christian History

Jun 19, 2010 11:44 AM EDT

0325 - The month-long Council of Nicea closed. Known as the first ecumenical council in the history of the Church, it formulated the Nicene Creed and established the method for calculating Easter.


1566 - Birth of James VI of Scotland. Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, he ascended the English throne as James I. He is best remembered for authorizing the publication known today as the 'King James Version' (KJV) of the Bible.


1910 - In Spokane, Washington, under sponsorship of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, Father's Day was observed for the first time.


1977 - Paul VI canonized John Nepomucene Neumann, the first American-born male saint. As fourth Bishop of the Philadelphia Diocese, Neumann is remembered for developing the parochial school system.


1987 - The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring public schools to teach creationism if they taught evolutionism. The court ruled that the state law violated the First Amendment.

© 1987-2010, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from

Almanac of the Christian Church