MILLENNIUM MILESTONES & MEMORIES: TIME CAPSULES

Historical Events in Church Annals for December 20:

• 399 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Fabiola, penitent and founder of Rome's first hospital. She repented of a sinful life after divorce and cohabitation with a lover, by donning sackcloth and standing at the gates of the Lateran until Pope Saint Siricus would absolve her.

• 1046 A.D.
  
• At the Synod of Sutri the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, German king removed Pope Gregory VI from the papal throne. He had been elected on May 5, 1045 and would die late in 1047. He took the place of Pope Benedict IX who was also forced to abdicate during these Dark Ages. Gregory personally led his army in protecting himself from invasion by Henry. To Gregory is attributed the forming of the first pontifical army.

• 1073 A.D.
  
• Death of Saint Domingo, Spanish abbot and monastery founder.

• 1935 A.D.
  
• Pope Pius XI issues his 25th encyclical Ad Catholici sacerdoti