September 14

Holy Cross Day

258 Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, died.

775 Constantine V, Byzantine Emperor, (b. 718).

891 Pope Stephen V died.

1214 Albert Avogadro, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, died (b. 1149).

1321 Dante Alighieri, Italian poet, died (b. 1265).

1523 Adrian VI, pope from 1522 to 1523, died (b. 2 March 1459).

1543 Claudio Acquaviva, Italian Jesuit, was born (d. 31 January 1615).

1588 Joshua Stegmann, hymnist, was born in Suelzfeld, Germany (d. 3 August 1632).

1605 Jan Tarnowski, Archbishop of Krakow, died (b. ca. 1550).

1638 John Harvard, American clergyman, died (b. 26 November 1607).

1640 Josua Wegelin, hymnist, died in Pressburg, Hungary (b. 11 January 1604, Augsburg).

1648 Caspar Neumann, hymnist, was born in Breslau (d. 27 January 1715).

1735 Robert Raikes, English newspaper editor, philanthropist and founder of the modern Sunday school, was born in Gloucester, England (d. 5 April 1811).

1737 Johann Michael Haydn, German sacred music chorister, was born in Rohrau, Austria (d. 10 August 1806).

1741 German composer George Frederic Handel (1685–1759) finished his oratorio Messiah. He completed the score only twenty-four days after starting work on it.

1799 David Oliver Allen, missionary to India, was born in Barre, Massachusetts (d. 1863).

1804 Louis Maigret, French Catholic prelate and the first vicar apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), was born (d. 1882).

1814 The "Star Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key (1779–1843) while he was a British prisoner during the bombarding of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The song became the official U.S. national anthem in 1931. Key was an Episcopal layman and co-founder of the American Sunday School Union.

1818 The Joint Synod of Ohio was organized at Somerset, Ohio.

1864 Richard Charles Henry Lenski, Lutheran Bible commentator, was born in Greifenberg, Prussia, Germany (d. 14 August 1936).

1865 Northwestern College (Watertown, Wisconsin) opened. The school, operated by the Wisconsin Synod, was amalgamated in 1995 with Dr. Martin Luther College (New Ulm, Minnesota) into Martin Luther College on the New Ulm campus.

1866 Karl Gustav Theodor Näther, first LCMS missionary to India, was born in Bautzen, Saxony, Germany (d. 13 February 1904).

1883 Martin Dibelius, German Lutheran New Testament scholar, was born in Dresden (d. 11 November 1947). [German Wikipedia article]

1887 Edward Shippen Barnes, musician, was born in Seabright, New Jersey (d. 14 February 1958).

1913 The first Missouri Synod Lutheran chapel in China opened at Hua Chin Kai, Hankow.

1914 Charles F. Obermeyer died (b. 21 September 1851, Saint Louis, Missouri). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1874 and was ordained on 9 August of that year. His first call was to be pastor and missionary in Farmington, Missouri. From 1876 to 1889 he served First Lutheran Church (Little Rock, Arkansas). He was called to Zion Lutheran Church (Saint Louis) in 1889 and served this congregation as its first resident pastor for twenty-five years. He served as chairman and secretary of the Synodical Conference Negro Mission Board and traveled extensively throughout Arkansas and Tennessee. He also served on the Board of Directors of Concordia Publishing House until 1908. In 1908 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Missouri Synod, a position he held until his death.

1925 Albert Tobias Clay, Lutheran oriental scholar, died (b. 4 December 1866, Hanover, Pennsylvania).

1927 Bob Jones University was founded as Bob Jones College in College Point, Florida (near Panama City).

1964 The Third Session of the Second Vatican Council was opened by Pope Paul VI (1897–1978). This session lasted through 21 November. Vatican II, the 21st ecumenical council, met between October 1962 and December 1965 in four sessions.

1965 The Fourth Session of Vatican II was opened by Pope Paul VI. This session lasted through December 8, when the council was formally adjourned. Sixteen major documents were prepared and published by the 2,860 priests who participated in the various council proceedings.

1975 Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seaton (1774–1821) was canonized by Pope Paul VI, making her the first U.S. citizen to be made a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

1975 Otto Paul (O. P.) Kretzmann, former president and chancellor of Valparaiso University, died (b. 7 May 1901, Stamford, Connecticut).

2001 A historic National Prayer Service was held at the Washington National Cathedral for victims of the 11 September attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.