March 28

1285 Pope Martin IV died (b. ca. 1210/1220).

1515 The Spanish mystic Teresa of Ávila, founder of a reformed Carmelite order, was born (d. 4 October 1582).

1522 Margrave Albrecht von Brandenburg-Kulmbach, hymnist, was born at Ansbach (d. 8 January 1556/7).

1531 The Schmalkaldic League was formed as a defensive alliance of Lutheran nobility.

1592 Czech theologian John Comenius, educator of the Bohemian (Moravian) Brethren, was born in Nivnice, Moravia, Czech Republic (d. 15 November 1670).

1661 Scottish Parliament passed the Rescissory Act, repealing all church-state legislation created since 1633 (Charles I's reign). In essence the act restored the Anglican episcopacy to Scotland and quashed Presbyterianism, which had been the national church since 1638. In 1690 Parliament again established the Church of Scotland as Presbyterian.

1725 Andrew Kippis, nonconformist English clergyman and biographer, was born (d. 8 October 1795).

1839 Frederich W. Lange, pioneer Missouri Synod missionary in Kansas, was born (d. 7 April 1914).

1871 John Joseph Ignatius von Doellinger (1799–1890), Roman Catholic historian and theologian, rejected the new dogma of papal infallibility. He was excommunicated in 1873.

1886 Richard Chenevix Trench (b. 9 September 1807), Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, died.

1895 Donald Grey Barnhouse, American Presbyterian clergyman and pioneer radio preacher, was born in Watsonville, California.

1915 Kurt Aland, German Lutheran New Testament scholar, was born (d. 13 April 1994).

1929 Katherine L. Bates (b. 12 August 1859), American English teacher and author of the patriotic hymn “America the Beautiful,” died.

1929 F. B. (Frederick Brotherton) Meyer (b. 8 April 1847), English Baptist clergyman and devotional writer, died.

1945 Harry Strachan (b. 1872), missions pioneer, died. In 1921 he founded the Latin American Evangelization Campaign in Stony Brook, New York, known today as the Latin America Mission.

1963 Herbert William Knopp Sr. died (b. 1907). From 1948 to 1955 he was coordinator of university relations for Valparaiso University, during which time he was also the campaign director of the Valparaiso Memorial Building Fund. He was the president of the Tennessee District of the Lutheran Laymen's League from 1945 to 1947. He also served as a member of the Committee on Doctrinal Unity and the Committee on Television and Public Relations of the Missouri Synod. He was the author of The Christian Day School of the Missouri Lutherans and the editor of the Tennessee Lutheran Layman from 1944 to 1947.

1976 Martin Hans Franzmann, hymnist and theologian, died in Cambridge, England (b. 29 January 1907).

1981 Erna Feucht, first office secretary of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League, died in Saint Louis. She served as secretary in the Saint Louis office from 1947 until her retirement on 1 January 1970. She provided business and leadership skills for the building of the Christ-centered organization.

1987 Maria von Trapp (b. 26 January 1905), matriarch of the Von Trapp Family Singers, died.