February 1

525 (traditional date) Brigid, founder of a monastery at Kildare and considered the second patron saint of Ireland, died (b. ca. 451).

772 Pope Adrian I (d. 25 December 795), a Roman of noble birth, entered the clerical state under Paul I and was ordained deacon by Stephen III, whom he succeeded as pope on this day.

1516 Desiderius Erasmus (1466/69–1536) dedicated his amendment of Jerome's Latin (Vulgate) translation of the Bible to Pope Leo X.

1531 The Smalcaldic League was formed.

1763 Thomas Campbell, founder of the Disciples of Christ (which flourished under the leadership of his son, Alexander), was born (d. 4 January 1854).

1787 Richard Whately, hymnist, was born (d. 8 October 1863, Dublin, Ireland).

1801 Titus Coan, missionary to Hawaii, was born at Killingworth, Connecticut (d. 1 December 1882, Hilo, Hawaii).

1810 Charles Lenox Remond, a black abolitionist preacher who supported slave uprisings and the use of violence to end slavery, was born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1878).

1812 The name “primitive” was added to a branch of the Methodist Church in Tunstall, England.

1820 George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman distinguished for his activity in benevolent work, was born (d. 17 November 1897).

1822 The Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews was established in Berlin.

1834 Henry McNeal Turner, black American Methodist clergyman, was born in Newberry Court House, South Carolina (d. 8 May 1915).

1845 Baylor University was founded in Independence, Texas, under Baptist sponsorship.

1850 William Keller Frick, professor, pastor and president of the English Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the Northwest, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (d. 20 August 1918).

1855 Claus Harms, Lutheran anti-Rationalist theologian, died (b. 25 May 1778, Fahrstedt, Schleswig-Holstein).

1862 Ardent abolitionist Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) published the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in The Atlantic Monthly.

1880 Ferdinand H. Schmitt, professor at Concordia Teachers College (Addison and River Forest, Illinois), was born at Sebewaing, Michigan (d. 24 September 1962, Miami, Florida). He was a graduate of the Addison teachers seminary in 1901 and of Michigan State Normal School in 1906. He also earned a Ph.B. degree from the University of Chicago in 1926 and received an honorary LL.D. degree from the River Forest school in 1956. He served as a teacher at Sebewaing, Michigan, and then became an assistant instructor at Addison and a full professor at Addison and River Forest beginning in 1906. He was also the school’s business manager. He retired in 1947.

1891 Edward H. Plumptre, Church of England clergyman, theologian and hymnist, died (b. 6 August 1821, London).

1894 Carl S. Mundinger Sr. was born in Manawa, Wisconsin (d. 4 March 1967). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1917 and served congregations in Walker and Hopkins-Excelsior, Minnesota. In 1936 he became the president of St. John's College (Winfield, Kansas) and served in that position until 1958, when he became a professor there. He was the author of The Government in the Missouri Synod.

1899 Charles S. Robinson, hymnist, died in New York City (b. 31 March 1829, Bennington, Vermont).

1911 John Henry Harpster, missionary of the Lutheran General Synod in India, died at Mount Airy, Pennsylvania (b. 27 April 1844, Centerhall, Pennsylvania).

1926 By this date following World War I the Missouri Synod Board for Relief in Europe had handled $1,310,283.03 in cash and three million pounds of foodstuffs for distribution in Europe.

1963 The Lutheran Free Church (an American denomination with Norwegian roots) merged with The American Lutheran Church.

1966 Missouri Synod mission activities were unified under one Board for Missions.