August 31

431 The Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus closed. Nestorius (ca. 386–ca. 451) was condemned, ending the Nestorian Controversy.

1535 Pope Paul III (1468–1549) excommunicated English King Henry VIII (1491–1547), who had been declared by an earlier pope as “Most Christian King” and “Defender of the Faith.”

1667 Johann von Rist, German Lutheran clergyman and poet, writer and hymnist, died (b. 8 March 1607). [German Wikipedia article]

1688 John Bunyan, English Puritan author of The Pilgrim's Progress_ and teacher, died (b. 28 November 1628).

1827 Anna B. (Bartlett) Warner, New England hymn writer, was born on Long Island, New York (d. 22 January 1915, Highland Falls, New York).

1828 Lewis Hartsough, New England Methodist clergyman, was born in Ithaca, New York (d. 1 January 1919).

1847 Solomon Henkel, printer and physician, died (b. 10 November 1777).

1849 August Wolter, professor at the Missouri Synod practical seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, died (b. 29 August 1818).

1852 John Alden Singmaster, president of the Gettysburg seminary and the General Synod, was born in Macungie, near Allentown, Pennsylvania (d. 27 February 1926).

1861 Jessie B. (Brown) Pounds, American hymn writer, was born in Hiram, Ohio (d. 3 March 1921, Hiram, Ohio).

1862 John Augustus William Haas, leader in the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 22 July 1937).

1868 Carl Christian Hein, Lutheran leader and president of the Ohio Synod, was born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 30 April 1937).

1870 Maria Montessori, Italian educator, was born in Chiaravalle, Italy (d. 6 May 1952).

1880 William Adams, president and professor of sacred rhetoric and pastoral theology at Union Theological Seminary, died at Orange Mountain, New Jersey (b. 25 January 1807).

1884 Saint Paul's College (Concordia, Missouri) dedicated its first building.

1887 Erwin Ernst Kowalke was born at Kaukauna, Wisconsin. He was educated at Northwestern College and the Wauwatosa seminary of the Wisconsin Synod. He served as a pastor at Tomahawk, Wisconsin, and then as a professor at Northwestern College and that school's third president.

1917 Eduard L. Arndt’s (1864–1929) China mission was accepted by President Friedrich Pfotenhauer for the Missouri Synod.

1952 The This Is the Life television program premiered over stations in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware. A week later, Saint Louis became the first major city to air the program.

1953 Jacob Sheatsley, General Synod pastor and editor, died (b. 20 June 1859, Paris, Ohio).

1985 Edward Henry Buchheimer died (b. 6 March 1901). He was educated at Concordia College (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis), graduating in 1924. He also did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and in 1956 received a master of education degree from Wayne State University (Detroit). On graduation from the seminary he was called to Detroit to establish a mission on the far east side. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Our Saviour was established in 1924, and he served as pastor until his retirement in 1972. While serving Our Saviour he introduced the Vacation Bible School concept in 1925. He also served as chaplain at the county jail and the sanitarium at Howell, Michigan, and was announcer on the Detroit Lutheran Hour until its merger with the International Lutheran Hour. From 1949 until his retirement he served as a chaplain for the Detroit Police Department. He also served on the Missouri Synod's Board of Missions for North and South America. In 1960 Concordia Theological Seminary (Springfield, Illinois) conferred on him an honorary doctor of divinity degree.