THURSDAY-SUNDAY
August 23-26, 2001
volume 12, no. 145

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 23rd:

• 1285 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Philip Benizi, Confessor, Servite Prior and Superior General who was actually considered a candidate for the papacy after the death of Pope Clement IV but felt so unworthy he hid until Cardinal Hildebrand was elected and became Pope Blessed Gregory X. A great orator, Philip resigned his post as provincial in later years and spent the last years of his life in prayer and solitude.

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 24th:

• 63 A.D.
• Death of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle. The exact year of his death is up for conjecture but the Roman Martyrology affirms he was beheaded by King Astyages somewhere in Armenia after preaching the Gospel in Egypt, India, Mesopotamia, and Persia. For more, see LITURGY OF THE SAINTS

• 684 A.D.
• Death of Saint Ouen or Owen, son of Saint Authaire. Ouen was chancellor to King Clovis II of France and served as Archbishop of Rouen.

• 1307 A.D.
• Pope Clement V colloborates with France's King Philip IV over the great danger of the Knights Templar by issuing a special letter to the French monarch. This letter resulted in the Templars being rounded up on October 13 the same year and condemned.

• 1560 A.D.
• The Protestant revolt is complete in Scotland when Mary, Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is outlawed in Scotland with no allegiance to Rome.

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 25th:

• 303 A.D.
• Death of Saint Genesius, patron of actors and comedians. Legend has it that this Roman thespian sought to mock the Christians during an act on stage and, while playing a catechumen about to be baptized suddenly experienced a conversion. He was beheaded by the Roman Emperor Diocletian for refusing to worship the pagan gods.

• 608 A.D.
• Election of Pope Saint Boniface IV as the 67th successor of Peter. He consecrated the pagan temple of Agrippa, which is today the Pantheon, to the memory of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and all the saints, thus instituting All Saints Day on November 1st. He also sanctioned moral and material improvements for the lower clergy. He would serve for seven years.

• 1213 A.D.
• In the aftermath of the murder of Saint Thomas Becket by King Henry II, the archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop Langton, intent on holding the king to his pledge to the Pope, presented the blueprint charter for the Magna Carta at St. Albans and St. Paul's to the barons, noblemen and prelates of England. Two years later the king would be forced to sign the historic charter that would forever change how governments rule.

• 1248 A.D.
• Saint Louis IX, King of France sets out on his quest to recover the Holy Land with his crusaders for the 7th Crusade. For more, see LITURGY OF THE SAINTS

• 1270 A.D.
• Death of Saint Louis IX in Tunis, Africa from Typhus. For more on this holy monarch of France, see LITURGY OF THE SAINTS

• 1282 A.D.
• Death of Saint Thomas Cantelupe from Hereford, England. He served as Chancellor of England and bishop who was embroiled throughout his life in the politics of England, but remained ever true to the Holy See. After his death hundreds of miracles were attributed to him and he was canonized in 1320 by Pope John XXII.

• 1539 A.D.
• The famed Abbey of Glastonbury, a cradle for English saints is dissolved as a Roman Catholic abbey and turned over to the Church of England, thus finalizing the split from Rome by Henry VIII.

• 1617 A.D.
• Death of Saint Rose of Lima, virgin, religious and first saint from the new world. Some historians date her death on the 24th while others list her as having died in the early hours of the 25th of August.

• 1648 A.D.
• Death of Saint Joseph Calasanz, priest, religious founder and educator. For more on this Spanish saint see LITURGY OF THE SAINTS

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 26th:

• 217 A.D.
• Death of Pope Saint Zephyrinus, 15th successor of Peter. He ruled for 18 years and decreed that young people of 14 years and over should receive Holy Communion at Easter and introduced the use of the paten and of chalices of cut glass. His pontificate was characterized by bitter theological struggles for he was the Pope who excommunicated the historian Tertullian. Though he was not violently killed in the manner many Christians were, he is considered a martyr because of the great suffering he underwent.

• 395 A.D.
• Death of Saint Moses the Black, Ethiopian slave who was converted by monks and ordained a priest, becoming one of the most sought after spiritual directors among the desert fathers.

• 846 A.D.
• Muslim pirates land at the mouth of the Tiber and sack Rome, pillaging and plundering the venerable St. Peter's Basilica as well as St. Paul's-Outside-the-Walls during the last days of Pope Sergius II.

• 1429 A.D.
• Saint Joan of Arc, commissioned by King Charles VII enters Paris to win back the beseiged city from the English. She would ultimately fail and be captured a year later.

• 1498 A.D.
• Pope Alexander IV commissions the Italian master Michelangelo to fashion the famous sculpture of the Blessed Mother cradling her Divine Son Jesus after He had been taken down from the cross. This masterpiece is forever called the "Pieta" and is on display in the back, right side of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome today.

• 1910 A.D.
• Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu is born in Skopje, Macedonia. She would go on to join the Sisters of Loretto out of Ireland, be assigned to Calcutta and found her own Order - the Missionaries of Charity dedicated to assisting the lowliest of lowlies. This famous woman was, of course, Mother Teresa and she would become one of the most well-known and beloved religious of all time whose passing on September 5, 1997 was greatly mourned by the entire world.

• 1978 A.D.
• Albino Luciani, Cardinal of Venice becomes the 263rd successor of Peter after he is elected on the third ballot on the first day of the conclave and takes the name honoring his two predecessors - Pope John Paul I. He would die on September 28th, 33 days later from a heart attack which many feel was induced by some sort of drug administered to him via a conspiracy. No one truly knows for sure since there was no autopsy but strong suspicion still exists and has been corraborated in David Yallop's revealing book In God's Name. The greatest reasons for substantiating this is because John Paul I had planned to clean up the Vatican Bank and demote several Curial figures who had virtually run things during the previous regime. John Paul I was known as the smiling Pope and declined to have a coronation ceremony.

August 23-26, 2001 volume 12, no. 145 TIME CAPSULES in Church History www.DailyCatholic.org