Historical Events in Church Annals for August 2nd:

• 257 A.D.
  
• Death of Pope Saint Stephen I, 23rd successor of Peter. He was beheaded during a religious function on his pontifical chair in the Catacombs of St. Callixtus.

• 640 A.D.
  
• Death of Pope Severinus, 71st successor of Peter, who condemned the monoteletic heresy and because he did so, suffered the retaliation of Heraclius, Byzantine emperor who ordered the sacking of the Basilica of St. John Lateran's and the Lateran Palace.

• 686 A.D.
• Death of Pope John V, 82nd successor of Peter, whose election was due to the interference of the Byzantine Court.

• 1191 A.D.
• During the Third Crusade, the Saladin delivers the first installment of freed prisoners from Acre for the ransom money.

• 1552 A.D.
• Death of Saint Basil the Blessed.

• 1942 A.D.
• Death of Saint Edith Stein, who was canonized on October 11, 1998 by Pope John Paul II. Like Saint Maximilian Kolbe, she died in the horrific German prison camp of Auschwitz. This Jewish woman converted to Catholicism and became Sister Theresa Benedicta of Jesus.

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 3rd:

• 415 A.D.
• The relics of Saint Stephen are discovered in Rome and would be taken to Jerusalem twenty-four years later before being transferred back to Rome permanently a century later where today they are enshrined in the Church of St. Lawrence-Outside-the-Walls.

• 1492 A.D.
• Christopher Columbus, having received a blessing from Queen Isabella leads the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and Nina following course as they set out from Spain in search of the Indies.

• 1868 A.D.
• Death of Saint Peter Julian Eymard, priest and founder of the Priest's Eucharistic League. He had a deep love for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Blessed Sacrament and devoted his life to fostering reverence among his fellow priests and the laity. See DAILY LITURGY

• 1881 A.D.
• Pope Leo XIII ushers his eighth encyclical to the bishops of Belgium on the Catholics of that land in with Licet multa.

August 2-3, 2000
volume 11, no. 129
MILLENNIUM MILESTONES

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