December 1

1145 Pope Eugene III (d. 8 July 1153) sent a papal bull to King Louis VII of France (1137–1179), proclaiming the Second Crusade.

1521 Pope Leo X, enemy of Martin Luther, died (b. Giovanni de' Medici, 11 December 1475, Florence, Italy).

1523 The Reformation began in Strasbourg.

1635 Melchior Teschner, Silesian clergyman and composer, died (b. 29 April 1584).

1707 Jeremiah Clarke, composer, died in London (b. ca. 1674, London).

1709 Abraham a Sancta Clara (monastic name of German preacher Hans Ulrich Megerle) died (b. 2 July 1644).

1764 The French government issued a royal decree abolishing the Jesuit order in that country. The decree came as a result of powerful forces opposing both the Jesuits and Pope Clement XIII. The pope’s successor, Clement XIV, formally suppressed the Society of Jesus in 1767, but it was restored again by Pius VII in 1814.

1775 Peter Muhlenberg (1746–1807) was appointed colonel of the 8th Virginia Regiment.

1798 Albert Barnes, American Presbyterian clergyman and Bible scholar, was born in Rome, New York (d. 24 December 1870).

1807 Joseph Getchell Binney, Baptist pastor and American Board (Congregationalist) missionary to the Karens in Burma, was born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 26 November 1877). He was also president of George Washington University from 1855 to 1858.

1817 Justin H. Knecht, composer, died at Stuttgart (b. 30 September 1752, Biberach, Swabia).

1858 The Lutheran Hospital Association was organized in Saint Louis.

1860 The second Michigan Synod was organized in Detroit.

1871 W. H. Kruse was born in Beecher, Illinois (d. 1 May 1939, Fort Wayne, Indiana). He studied at Concordia Theological Seminary (Springfield, Illinois) and Concordia College (Fort Wayne), received an A.B. degree from the University of Chicago in 1894 and did graduate studies at the University of Chicago (1894–1896). He was a professor at Hastings College (Hastings, Nebraska) from 1896 to 1902. He studied theology privately and was received by colloquy into the teaching ministry of the Missouri Synod in the Nebraska District. Beginning in 1902 he was professor of classical languages at Concordia College (Fort Wayne).

1880 Wilhelm Friedrich Lehmann, Ohio Synod president and professor, died (b. 16 October 1820, Markgröningen, Württemberg, Germany).

1880 William Frederick Arndt, Missouri Synod exegete and Greek lexicographer, was born in Mayville, Wisconsin (d. 25 February 1957, Cambridge, England).

1882 Titus Coan, American Presbyterian missionary to Hawaii, died in Hilo, Hawaii (b. 1 February 1801).

1917 Nebraska parish priest Father Edward Flanagan (1886–1948) founded Boys Town near Omaha, Nebraska.

1925 George Hugh Bourne, Anglican clergyman and hymnist, died at Saint Edmund's, Salisbury, England (b. 8 November 1840, Saint Paul's Cray, Kent, England).

1926 Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for Bob Jones College at Panama City, Florida. It later relocated to Greenville, South Carolina, and is known as Bob Jones University.

1941 F. J. (Frederick John) Foakes-Jackson, Anglican theologian, was born in Ipswich, England (b. 1855).

1949 Work in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, was opened by Roy Suelflow (1918–1981).

1976 The American Bible Society published Good News Bible.

1989 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II met at the Vatican, announcing an agreement to reestablish diplomatic ties. Gorbachev also denounced seventy years of religious oppression in his country.