January 12

690 Saint Benedict Biscop, the Benedictine abbot and monastery builder who introduced the stone-built church and the art of glassmaking to England, died (b. ca. 628).

1167 Aelred (a.k.a. Ailred, Ethelred), abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, England, died (b. 1110).

1519 Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, died (b. 22 March 1459).

1587/8 John Winthrop, a lawyer who became the first governor of the Puritans in Massachusetts, was born in Suffolk, England (d. 26 March 1649, Boston).

1604 The Hampton Court Conference, a meeting called by James I to discuss differences between the Puritans and High Church Anglicans, began. The King James translation of the Bible was authorized as a result of the talks.

1670 Johann Eusebius Schmidt, hymnist, was born in Hohenfelden, near Erfurt (d. 25 December 1745, Siebleben, near Gotha).

1730 Johann Christoph Schwedler, Silesian clergyman and hymnist, died (b. 21 December 1672, Krobsdorf, Silesia).

1776 Peter Muhlenberg (1746–1807) was appointed an Army colonel.

1825 B. F. Westcott, British New Testament scholar, was born near Birmingham, England (d. 27 July 1901).

1826 Ernst Gustav Hermann Miessler, American Lutheran missionary to the Chippewa Indians, was born in Reichenbach, Silesia (d. 1 March 1916).

1843 Plural marriage was declared as the policy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons).

1847 Johan Arndt Bergh, United Norwegian Lutheran church leader, was born in Odemark, Norway (d. 5 February 1927).

1851 Friedrich Lindemann, professor at the Missouri Synod teachers seminary at Addison, Illinois, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 13 December 1907).

1870 Christopher Friedrich John Drewes, director of the Lutheran Synodical Conference Board for Colored Missions, was born in Wolcottville, New York (d. 3 March 1931, Saint Louis).

1871 Henry Alford, compiler of the first comprehensive English commentary on the Greek New Testament and hymnist, died in Canterbury (b. 7 October 1810, Bloomsbury, Middlesex, England).

1951 The Lutheran seminary at Nung Udoe, Nigeria, was dedicated.

2001 Richard G. Kapfer, president of the Iowa District West of the Missouri Synod from 1985 until 2000, died in Ames, Iowa (b. 4 July 1936). In other synodical service, Kapfer was a member and chair of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations and a member of the Board of Regents of Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) and the Commission on Church Literature. He also served as a vice-president of the Iowa District West from 1982 to 1985. A 1963 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary (Springfield, Illinois), Kapfer served as pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church (Hanover, New Hampshire), University Lutheran Chapel (Ypsilanti, Michigan) and Memorial Lutheran Church (Ames, Iowa). He received an honorary Litt.D. degree from Concordia College (Saint Paul, Minnesota) in 1987.