250 A.D.
Death of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr. For more on this early saint, see DAILY LITURGY.
345 A.D.
Death of Saint Abraham of Arbela, Bishop of that see who was martyred in Iraq by the shah of Persia Shapur II in what was then Assyria.
519 A.D.
Death of Saint Avitus of Vienne, Bishop of Vienne. He was the son of Saint Isychius a former Roman senator who preceded his son as Bishop. Avitus converted the monarch of Burgundy King Sigismund. He also was effective in fending off the heresies of Arianism and deleting the pagan customs of the Franks through his preaching and effective letters.
1005 A.D.
Death of Saint Fingen, Irish saint fwho was abbot of Metz whose specialty was restoring run-down monasteries and abbeys throughout Ireland. When a controversy arose regarding administration of the abbeys by foreign monks, he was able to convince Pope John XVII to decree that Irish abbeys could only be administered by Irish monks.
1015 A.D.
Death of Saint Adelaide, Abbess of the Abbey at Bellich in Germany. She was a stickler insisting her nuns knew Latin in order that when they prayed they would know what they were praying and offer more edification in their chanting. She did not confine her care just to the contemplative sisters but reached out to the villagers, ministering to them when they were in the greatest need of help during a great famine.
2000 A.D.
Pope John Paul II appoints Archbishop Paolo Giglio, the Apostolic Nuncio in Egypt, as the first delegate of the Holy See to the Arab League. It is an important event in the history of relations between the Church of Rome and her one billion members and the Arabian world with more than 300 million inhabitants. The landmark appointment is made on the eve of the Pope's apostolic visit to Egypt during the Jubilee Year.