by svlchurch | May 6, 2023
May 6, 1527: An army of barbarians who had been sent—but were no longer controlled—by Emperor Charles V sacks Rome. Many Protestants interpreted the attack as a divine rebuke, and some Catholics agreed: “We who should have been the salt of the earth decayed...
by svlchurch | May 5, 2023
May 5, 1525: Frederick III, the elector of Saxony also called “Frederick the Wise,” dies. An avid collector of relics and a supporter of modern scholarship (he founded the University of Wittenberg), Frederick protected Martin Luther after the Diet of Worms...
by svlchurch | Aug 29, 2022
August 29, 29: Since the fifth century, tradition has this as the date for the death of John the Baptist. August 29, 70: Romans burn the gates, enter the Temple courtyards of Jerusalem, and destroy the temple by fire. Within three years, Jewish resistance ends in a...
by svlchurch | Aug 24, 2022
August 24, 1456: The second volume of the Gutenberg Bible is bound in Mainz, Germany. This act completes a two-year project to create the first complete book printed with movable type.
by svlchurch | Aug 11, 2022
August 11, 1519: Johann Tetzel, the German Dominican priest whose peddling of indulgences inspired Martin Luther to write his 95 Theses, dies. Throughout Germany he infamously preached, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory...
