January 27
Given the added name of Chrysostom, which means
“golden-mouthed” in Greek, Saint John was a dominant force
in the fourth-century Christian church. Born in Antioch
around the year 347, John was instructed in the Christian
faith by his pious mother, Anthusa. After serving in a
number of Christian offices, including acolyte and lector,
John was ordained a presbyter and given preaching
responsibilities. His simple but direct messages found an
audience well beyond his home town. In 398 John Chrysostom
was made patriarch of Constantinople. His determination to
reform the church, court and city there brought him into
conflict with established authorities. Eventually he was
exiled from his adopted city. Although removed from his
parishes and people, he continued writing and preaching
until the time of his death in 407. It is reported that his
final words were “Glory be to God for all things. Amen.”
[From
“Commemorations Biographies,”
Lutheran Service Book, LCMS Commission on Worship]
417
Pelagius (ca. 354–ca. 420/440), a British monk, was excommunicated
for heresy. He denied original sin and claimed that people
could become righteous by the exercise of free
will.
537 Byzantine Emperor
Justinian (482–565) dedicated the
Church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in
Constantinople.
1302 On a charge of hostility to the
church and corrupt practices,
Dante Alighieri
(1265–1321) was fined heavily and perpetually excluded from
political office (he was a chief magistrate).
1343
Pope Clement VI (1291–1352)
issues the Bull
Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and
the use of
indulgences.
1377 The
Papal See was moved back to Rome by
Pope Gregory XI
(ca. 1336–1378)
after having been located in Avignon, France, for
seventy-two years.
1593 The Vatican opened a seven-year trial against
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), an
Italian philosopher, priest, cosmologist and occultist and
an early proponent of the idea of an infinite and
homogeneous universe. He was burnt at the stake as a heretic
by the
Roman Inquisition.
1629
Hieronymus Praetorius,
German organist and composer, died (b. 10 August 1560, Hamburg).
1715
Kasper Neumann, hymnist, died in Breslau (b.
14 September 1648,
Breslau).
1756
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, extraordinary
Austrian composer, was born at Salzburg (d. 5 December
1791).
1836
Frederick David Schaeffer,
Pennsylvania Ministerium pastor, died (b. 15 November 1760,
Frankfurt am Main).
1839
John
Julian, English hymnist and musicologist, was born in
Cornwall, England (d. 22 January 1913).
1839
Lutheran immigrants under
August Ludwig Christian Kavel
(1798–1860) arrived in Port Adelaide, Australia.
1845
August Crull, hymn translator, was born in
Rostock, Germany (d. 17 February 1923, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin).
1847
Henry Scott Holland, hymnist, was born in Ledbury, Hereford,
England (d. 17 March 1918).
1882
Hans Palladan Smith Schreuder,
Norwegian missionary to Africa, died in Untunjambili, Natal,
South Africa (b. 1817, Sogndal, Norway).
1948
John Caspar Mattes,
Lutheran theologian, writer and hymn translator, died (b. 8
November 1876, Easton, Pennsylvania).
1972 The white and
black United Methodist conferences in South Carolina,
separated since the Civil War, voted in their respective
meetings in Columbia to adopt a plan of union.
1972
Mahalia Jackson (b. 26 October 1912),
African American religious vocalist, died.
1984 Leslie
F. Weber, former executive secretary of the Missouri Synod
Board for Social Ministry Services, died (b. 25 February
1912, Boston). Weber graduated
from Concordia Collegiate Institute (Bronxville, New York) in 1931. In 1935 he graduated from
Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) and was ordained in 1938.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1969 from the Saint
Louis seminary. From 1935 to 1938 Weber was assistant
chaplain for Lutheran Service Society of Buffalo, New York.
Then he was pastor of the Lutheran Church of Our Savior,
Buffalo, from 1938 to 1941. From 1941 to 1964, he was
executive chaplain for the Lutheran Mission Society of Maryland,
Baltimore. For the next three years he was secretary for
chaplaincy services for the synod’s Board of Social Welfare.
Beginning in 1967 and until his retirement in 1982 he was
executive secretary of that board and its successor boards.
While in Baltimore he was executive secretary of the
Lutheran Home and Hospital Association (1947–1964) and
chairman of the Board of Social Welfare of the Southeastern District (1956–1964). He served as a member of
the Lutheran World Relief board in the 1970s and at various
times served as a member of the Division of Welfare Services
of the Lutheran Council in the USA (LCUSA), consultant to
the LCUSA Division of Mission and Ministry and a member of
Lutheran Immigration Service of the former National Lutheran
Council. Weber edited The Welfare Review from 1967
until 1974 and The Good News, a monthly
publication.