March 17
Patrick is one of the best-known of the missionary
saints. Born to a Christian family in Britain around the
year 389, he was captured as a teenager by raiders, taken to
Ireland and forced to serve as a herdsman. After six years
he escaped and found his way to a monastery community in
France. Ordained a bishop in 432, he made his way back to
Ireland, where he spent the rest of his long life spreading
the Gospel and organizing Christian communities. He strongly
defended the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in a time when it
was not popular to do so. His literary legacy includes his
autobiography, Confessio, and several prayers and hymns
still used in the church today. Patrick died around the year
466. [From "Commemorations
Biographies," Lutheran Service Book, LCMS
Commission on Worship]
1565 Alexander
Alesius, Scottish Lutheran theologian, died (b. 23 April 1500,
Edinburgh, Scotland).
1581 Johannes
Marbach, reformer of Strasbourg and champion of
Lutheranism, died (b. 1521, Lindau, Bavaria).
1734 Forty-two families (78 persons),
Protestant refugees from Salzburg, Austria, arrived in the
American colonies, landing in Georgia. Sponsored by the
Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK), a
British missionary organization, the refugees soon
established the town of
Ebenezer, thirty miles from
Savannah, Georgia.
1737 The Charitable Irish Society of
Boston hosted the first municipal celebration of
Saint
Patrick’s Day in America.
1780 Thomas
Chalmers, pastor and social reformer, was born at
Anstruther, Scotland (d. 31 May 1847).
1823 Charles
Porterfield Krauth, prominent theologian in the General
Synod and General Council, was born in Martinsburg, Virginia
(d. 2 January 1883).
1828 Matthias
Loy, Lutheran theologian and author, was born in the
Blue Mountains of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania (near
Harrisburg) (d. 26 January 1915).
1886 C. F. G. Lehenbauer, president of
the Brazil District of the Missouri Synod, was born in
Hannibal, Missouri. He graduated from Concordia Theological
Seminary (Springfield, Illinois) in 1913 and went to Brazil
as a missionary. He became president of the Brazil District
in 1924.
1897 Ottomar
E. Cloeter, one of Wilhelm Loehe's missioners, died at
Valley Creek, Minnesota (b. 25 April 1825, Bayreuth,
Bavaria).
1897 Emilie
Grace Briggs (1867–1944) became the first woman graduate from an
American Presbyterian theological seminary when she received
her Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological
Seminary in New York City.
1902 George
W. Warren, Episcopal organist and choir director, died
(b. 17 August 1828).
1911 Joseph
Y. Peek (b. 27 February 1843), American sacred music
instrumentalist, died.
1919 Frederick
William Stellhorn, a professor at Concordia College
(Fort Wayne, Indiana) who left his position to join the Ohio
Synod because of the predestination controversy, died (b.
2 October 1841).
1922 The
United Lutheran Synod of
Virginia was formed by a merger of the Virginia Synod
(1829), the Southwestern Virginia Synod (1842), the Holston
Synod (1860) and some congregations of the Tennessee
Synod.
1946 Alvaro A. Cariņo was commissioned
as the first Missouri Synod missionary to the
Philippines.
1987 George W. Wittmer died in Saint
Louis, Missouri (b. 23 September 1906, Chicago, Illinois). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint
Louis) in 1930 and served as a pastor in Peoria, Illinois,
and Saint Louis, Missouri. He also served as vice-president
and president of the Western District and as a
vice-president of the Missouri Synod. He retired in
1975.