October 12

638 Pope Honorius I died.

642 Pope John IV died.

1081 Church records indicate Adam of Hamburg-Bremen died this day, though the year is uncertain. He was invited by archbishop Adalbert of Bremen (ca. 1000–1072) to write the history of Hamburg and of the Northern lands.

1492 Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) arrived in the Western Hemisphere. One of the purposes of his explorations was to spread Christianity.

1518 Martin Luther’s hearing before the papal legate, Thomas Cardinal Cajetan (1469–1534) began in Augsburg and continued through 14 October.

1537 King Edward VI of England was born (d. 6 July 1553). His reign saw the transformation of the Anglican Church into a recognizably Protestant body with, among other things, the development of the first Book of Common Prayer.

1600 Luis Molina, Spanish Jesuit theologian, died (b. 1535).

1602 William Chillingworth, English churchman, was born (d. 30 January 1644).

1720 John Nicolas Kurtz, Pennsylvania pastor, was born in Lutzenlinden, Nassau-Weilburg, Germany (d. 12 May 1794).

1787 Asa Thurston, missionary to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (d. 11 March 1868).

1860 Johann Friedrich Riedel, missionary to Indonesia, died (b. 1798).

1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the most significant English composers of the 20th century, was born at Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, England (d. 26 August 1958).

1878 John William Werling was born in New Haven, Indiana (d. 14 November 1957, Winfield, Kansas). He was a graduate of Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1902 and received an M.A. from Columbia University in 1927. He served as a pastor at Humboldt and Winfield, Kansas and became a professor at Saint John's College (Winfield, Kansas) in 1918, serving until he retired in 1957. He was a member of the board of directors of the Lutheran Children's Friend Society in Winfield from 1915 to 1947.

1880 Harriet Krauth (1845–1925) and Adolph Spaeth (1839–1910), hymnists, were married.

1881 Josiah G. Holland (b. 24 July 1819), American news editor and hymnist, died.

1883 C. Harold Lowden, American evangelical and reformed sacred music composer, was born (d. 27 February 1963).

1895 Mrs. Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander, author of many hymns and translator of several, died in Londonberry (b. April 1818).

1898 Calvin Fairbank, American abolitionist minister, died (b. 3 November 1816).

1901 Eduard Raimond Baierlein, Lutheran missionary among the Chippewa Indians near Frankenmuth, Michigan, died in Germany (b. 29 April 1819).

1910 F. F. (Frederick Fyvie) Bruce, English New Testament scholar, was born in Elgin, Scotland (d. 11 September 1990).

1913 Concordia Teachers College (River Forest, Illinois), now Concordia University Chicago, was dedicated after its relocation from Addison, Illinois.

1941 The first Missouri Synod chapel in Paraguay was dedicated at Hohenau.

1971 Jesus Christ Superstar debuted on Broadway.

1980 Dennis Ray Halm was inaugurated as the second president of Concordia University, Irvine, California (formerly Christ College).