1299 - In his encyclical 'Scimus fili,' Pope Boniface VIII claimed that Scotland owed allegiance to the Catholic Church.
1739 - English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Christ's servants have always been the world's fools.'
1760 - English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'Every one, though born of God in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows by slow degrees.'
1844 - Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, and his brother Hyrum were lynched by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, resulting in part from the community's moral outrage at Smith's recent authorization of polygamous Mormon marriages.
1961 - In England, Arthur Michael Ramsey was enthroned as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, the principal see of the Established Church of England.
© 1987-2011, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
