CELEBRATING JOHN PAUL THE GREAT'S 80TH BIRTHDAY ISSUE THUR-FRI-SAT-SUN May 18-21, 2000 volume 11, no. 95

Historical Events in Church Annals for May 18:

• 526 A.D.
• Death of Pope Saint John I, the 53rd successsor of Peter who, after crowning Emperor Justinian, was imprisoned by the barbaric King Theodoric who had invaded Italy. John, the first pope to visit Constantinople, died in prison. For more on him, see DAILY LITURGY

• 964 A.D.
• Death of Pope John XII. In one of the more embarassing times of the papacy, this pontiff is said to have had a stroke while bedding his mistress, a married woman. A week later he was dead. It was this pope who reconstituted the Holy Roman Empire, crown Otto I of Germany who later would depose John XII.

• 872 A.D.
• Louis II is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Hadrian II.

• 1306 A.D.
• Pope Clement V excommunicates Robert the Bruce, King of the Scots.

• 1920 A.D.
• Birth of Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland during the sixth year of the reign of Pope Benedict XV, 258th Pontiff. Young Karol would become in 1978, the 264th successor of Peter and take the name John Paul II. See our special section this weekend in SPECIAL SALUTE TO THE VICAR OF CHRIST.

Historical Events in Church Annals for May 19:

• 715 A.D.
• Pope Saint Gregory II becomes the 89th successor of Peter. He ordered the destruction of images forbade by the edict of Constantinople in a campaign against iconoclasm.

• 988 A.D.
• Death of Saint Dunstan, Irish saint, Benedictine monk, and Archbishop of Canterbury who revived monasticism in the Bristish Isles. He is Patron Saint of armorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths and jewelers.

• 1218 A.D.
• Death of Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor during the reign of Pope Honorius III.

• 1296 A.D.
• Death of Pope Saint Celestine V, 192nd successor of Peter, who renounced the papacy when he realized he was a mere instrument in the hands of the lords of those troubled medieval times.

• 1303 A.D.
• Death of Saint Ives also known as Saint Ivo Helory of Kermartin. Forty-four years after his death he was canonized by Pope Clement VI and is today known as the Patron Saint of Lawyers.

• 1342 A.D.
• Cardinal Pierre Roger becomes Pope Clement VI, 198th successor of Peter, who was the fourth in the Avignon line of Popes. Clement VI, known for being a great protector of the Jews, bought the city of Avignon for 18,000 gold florins.

• 1611 A.D.
• Birth of Blessed Pope Innocent XI, in Como, Italy as Benedetto Odescalchi who would become the 240th successor of Peter.

Historical Events in Church Annals for May 20:

• 1277 A.D.
• Death of Pope John XXI, 187th successor of Peter, the first Portuguese Pope who died when the ceiling of the Viturbo Palace, which had been hastily erected, collapsed on top of the pontiff and some of his entourage. He died a few days later from internal injuries. It was similar to what happened in Assisi when the frescos fell on two friars a few years ago.

• 1444 A.D.
• Death of Saint Bernardine of Siena whose feast we celebrate today. This Franciscan served as vicar general of his order and became a bishop. This missionary was known far and wide for preaching devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. He was canonized by Pope Nicholas V in 1450. For more on him, see DAILY LITURGY

• 1506 A.D.
• Death of Christopher Columbus, who, despite all his great accomplishments and acknowledgment from Queen Isabella, died in poverty and neglect at Valladolid, Spain.

• 1536 A.D.
• A day after dispatching of Anne Boleyn, the irreverant King Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour (not the actress), further raising the ire of Rome and Pope Paul III who would excommunicate the king two years later.

• 1571 A.D.
• Pope Saint Pius V, the 225th successor of Peter, forms the Holy League in alliance with Venice and Spain which would be the nucleus, along with the Papal States of the navy that would defeat the great Turkish fleet at the landmark battle of Lepanto under Don Juan of Austria later the same year on October 7th.

Historical Events in Church Annals for May 21:

• 996 A.D.
• Two weeks after becoming the 138th successor of Peter, Pope Gregory V crowns Otto III as Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's, making Otto protector of the Church. Coincidentally, it was also on the Solemnity of the Ascension just as we celebrate it today in 1998.

• 1170 A.D.
• Death of Saint Godric, an English hermit who was known for his austerity, gifts of prophecy, knowledge of events far off in the future, and visions. He died on this date in Finchdale, England in a hermitage.

• 1254 A.D.
• Death of Conrad IV, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor and son of Frederick II of Hohenstaufenwho, along with his father and his sons were thorns in the side of the Holy See.

• 1521 A.D.
• Birth of Philip II who would go on to become the King of Spain and form an alliance with the Holy League that would lead to the victory over the Turks at Lepanto fifty years later. His monarchy was one of contradiction. While his policies and military prowess helped preserve Catholicism in Spain, his marriage to Queen Mary of England, daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon, backfired in that the English, because of their distrust for her and the Spanish Catholic influence, rebelled and embraced Protestantism in retaliation for the harshness of Mary's actions as Queen, dubbing her "Bloody Mary" for her order to burn heretics at the stake.

• 1536 A.D.
• Catholic Bishops and clergy are ostracized in Geneva, Switzerland as the Protestant Reformation is officially adopted bringing great consternation to Pope Paul III.

• 1542 A.D.
• Death of Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto who had discovered the Mississippi River and helped bring the faith to middle America through the missionaries he had in his garrisons.

• 1861 A.D.
• Death of Saint Eugene de Mazenod, Bishop and Founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Marseilles, France. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on December 3, 1995 and his feast is celebrated with great triumph in Canada. For more, see WEEKEND DAILY LITURGY