371
Martin of Tours was consecrated against his will. To escape the press of the
world, he founded the first monastery in France. Many legends and miracles are
recorded of him. The cape he gave to a poor person became the origin of the word
"chaplain," referring to a military pastor.
414 Pulcheria was
proclaimed Augusta of the empire. She fought Nestorianism and convoked the
council of Chalcedon.
683 Pope Saint Leo II died. He was
instrumental in raising the quality of church music. He wrote letters showing
that Pope Honorius I was too lenient with heresy.
965 Pope
Benedict V died. Emperor Otho I had wanted a different pope and held Benedict
captive until his death.
993 The first official Roman Catholic
saint, Ulrich of Augsburg, was named. Before this, saints were selected "by
chance." To formalise the system, the church established rules of canonization,
Ulrich being the first thus selected.
1187 Saladin, leader of the
united Muslim forces, wiped out the armies of the Third Crusade at Tiberius,
Syria.
1415 Pope Gregory XII abdicated. Martin Luther, in his
"Against the Roman Papacy an Institution of the Devil," used the fact that on
occasion councils showed they were more powerful than the papacy as an example
that the papacy is not the "ultimate word" on what should be done in the
church.
1519 The second session of the Leipzig Debate between Eck
and Luther began and continued through July 13 or 14. Luther asserted that
councils have erred and that the Bible alone is infallible. Melanchthon was
among those present supporting Luther.
1546 A papal bull called
for war on the Lutherans.
1630 King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
landed in Germany as he came to the aid of German Lutherans during the Thirty
Years' War.
1648 Antoine Daniel, a Jesuit who taught the Hurons
many hymns in their own language, was martyred by the Iroquois.
1715 Christian F. Gellert, hymnist, was born at Hanichen in the Saxon
Harz.
1755 John Cennick (b. 1718), English clergyman, died. He was
born of Quaker parents, raised in the Anglican Church, worked within the
Methodist movement under John Wesley, left Wesley to work with George Whitefield
and finally, in 1845 joined the Moravian Brethren. Cennick published several
collections of hymns, including the popular table grace "Be Present at Our
Table, Lord."
1776 The Continental Congress, comprising delegates
sent by the legislatures of the thirteen colonies, approved the formal wording
of the Declaration of
Independence,
and the document was signed.
1816
Johann Georg Burger, a founder of the Missouri Synod, was born in Noerdlingen,
Bavaria.
1826 Stephen C. Foster, musician, was
born.
1826 Death of John Adams John Adams. John Adams was born on
Oct. 30 (Oct. 19, old style), 1735, at Braintree (now Quincy), Mass. A Harvard
graduate, he considered teaching and the ministry but finally turned to law and
was admitted to the bar in 1758. Six years later, he married Abigail Smith. He
opposed the Stamp Act, served as lawyer for patriots indicted by the British,
and by the time of the Continental Congresses, was in the vanguard of the
movement for independence. In 1778, he went to France as commissioner.
Subsequently he helped negotiate the peace treaty with Britain, and in 1785
became envoy to London. Resigning in 1788, he was elected vice president under
Washington and was re-elected in 1792. Though a Federalist, Adams did not get
along with Hamilton, who sought to prevent his election to the presidency in
1796 and thereafter intrigued against his administration. In 1798, Adams's
independent policy averted a war with France but completed the break with
Hamilton and the right-wing Federalists; at the same time, the enactment of the
Alien and Sedition Acts, directed against foreigners and against critics of the
government, exasperated the Jeffersonian opposition. The split between Adams and
Hamilton resulted in Jefferson's becoming the next president. Adams retired to
his home in Quincy. He and Jefferson died on the same day, July 4, 1826, the
50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. His Defence
of the Constitutions of Government of the United States (1787) contains original
and striking, if conservative, political ideas.
1826 Death of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13
(April 2, old style), 1743, at Shadwell in Goochland (now Albemarle) County, Va.
A William and Mary graduate, he studied law, but from the start showed an
interest in science and philosophy. His literary skills and political clarity
brought him to the forefront of the revolutionary movement in Virginia. As
delegate to the Continental Congress, he drafted the Declaration of
Independence. In 1776, he entered the Virginia House of Delegates and initiated
a comprehensive reform program for the abolition of feudal survivals in land
tenure and the separation of church and state. In 1779, he became governor, but
constitutional limitations on his power, combined with his own lack of executive
energy, caused an unsatisfactory administration, culminating in Jefferson's
virtual abdication when the British invaded Virginia in 1781. He retired to his
beautiful home at Monticello, Va., to his family. His wife, Martha Wayles
Skelton, whom he married in 1772, died in 1782. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia
(1784-85) illustrate his many-faceted interests, his limitless intellectual
curiosity, his deep faith in agrarian democracy. Sent to Congress in 1783, he
helped lay down the decimal system and drafted basic reports on the organisation
of the western lands. In 1785 he was appointed minister to France, where the
Anglo-Saxon liberalism he had drawn from John Locke, the British philosopher,
was stimulated by contact with the thought that would soon ferment in the French
Revolution. In 1789, Washington appointed him secretary of state. While
favouring the Constitution and a strengthened central government, Jefferson came
to believe that Hamilton contemplated the establishment of a monarchy. Growing
differences resulted in Jefferson's resignation on Dec. 31, 1793. Elected vice
president in 1796, Jefferson continued to serve as spiritual leader of the
opposition to Federalism, particularly to the repressive Alien and Sedition
Acts. He was elected president in 1801 by the House of Representatives as a
result of Hamilton's decision to throw the Federalist votes to him rather than
to Aaron Burr, who had tied him in electoral votes. He was the first president
to be inaugurated in Washington, which he had helped to design. The purchase of
Louisiana from France in 1803, though in violation of Jefferson's earlier
constitutional scruples, was the most notable act of his administration.
Re-elected in 1804, with the Federalist Charles C. Pinckney opposing him,
Jefferson tried desperately to keep the United States out of the Napoleonic Wars
in Europe, employing to this end the unpopular embargo policy. After his
retirement to Monticello in 1809, he developed his interest in education,
founding the University of Virginia and watching its development with
never-flagging interest. He died at Monticello on July 4, 1826. Jefferson had an
enormous variety of interests and skills, ranging from education and science to
architecture and music.
1831 Death of James Monroe. James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in
Westmoreland County, Va. A William and Mary graduate, he served in the army
during the first years of the Revolution and was wounded at Trenton. He then
entered Virginia politics and later national politics under the sponsorship of
Jefferson. In 1786, he married Elizabeth (Eliza) Kortright. Fearing
centralization, Monroe opposed the adoption of the Constitution and, as senator
from Virginia, was highly critical of the Hamiltonian program. In 1794, he was
appointed minister to France, where his ardent sympathies with the Revolution
exceeded the wishes of the State Department. His troubled diplomatic career
ended with his recall in 1796. From 1799 to 1802, he was governor of Virginia.
In 1803, Jefferson sent him to France to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase
and for the next few years he was active in various negotiations on the
Continent. In 1808, Monroe flirted with the radical wing of the Republican
Party, which opposed Madison's candidacy; but the presidential boom came to
naught and, after a brief term as governor of Virginia in 1811, Monroe accepted
Madison's offer to become secretary of state. During the War of 1812, he vainly
sought a field command and instead served as secretary of war from September
1814 to March 1815. Elected president in 1816 over the Federalist Rufus King,
and reelected without opposition in 1820, Monroe, the last of the Virginia
dynasty, pursued the course of systematic tranquilization that won for his
administrations the name "the era of good feeling." He continued Madison's
surrender to the Hamiltonian domestic program, signed the Missouri Compromise,
acquired Florida, and with the able assistance of his secretary of state, John
Quincy Adams, promulgated the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, declaring against foreign
colonization or intervention in the Americas. He died in New York City on July
4, 1831, the third president to die on the anniversary of Independence.
1831 (or 1832) American patriotic hymn "America," written by Baptist
clergyman Samuel Francis Smith, was first sung at worship services (at Park
Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts). Smith had taken the tune from a German
songbook and was unaware that it was also the tune of the British national
anthem "God Save the King (Queen)."
1840 James McGranahan,
American sacred music song writer and music pioneer, was born in Adamsville,
Pennsylvania. He served as song leader for popular 19th-century evangelist Major
D. W. Whittle. He also wrote many songs and tunes during his ministry
(1862-1887). Several of his most famous hymn tunes include Christ Returneth ("It
May Be Morn"), El Nathan ("I Know Not Why God's Wondrous Grace"), My Redeemer
("I Will Sing of My Redeemer"), Neumeister ("Christ Receiveth Sinful Men") and
Showers Of Blessing.
1848 Viscount Rene de Chateaubriand died.
Originally a skeptical French historian, he converted to Christianity at his
mother's death and wrote the _Genius of Christianity_ to show the superiority of
Christianity to other world religions.
1870 James Moffatt, New
Testament scholar, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. After serving as a pastor in
Scotland's Free Church (1894-1907), he was a professor at Mansfield College in
Oxford (1911-1915), at Glasgow (1915-1927) and at Union Seminary in New York
City (1927-1939). Moffatt translated both Old (1924) and New (1913) Testaments
into modern colloquial English (revision of the whole, 1935).
1872 (John) Calvin Coolidge was born in Plymouth, Vt. An Amherst
graduate, he went into law practice at Northampton, Mass., in 1897. He married
Grace Anna Goodhue in 1905. He entered Republican state politics, becoming
successively mayor of Northampton, state senator, lieutenant governor and, in
1919, governor. His use of the state militia to end the Boston police strike in
1919 won him a somewhat undeserved reputation for decisive action and brought
him the Republican vice-presidential nomination in 1920. After Harding's death
Coolidge handled the Washington scandals with care and finally managed to save
the Republican Party from public blame for the widespread corruption. In 1924,
Coolidge was elected without difficulty, defeating the Democrat, John W. Davis,
and Robert M. La Follette running on the Progressive ticket. His second term,
like his first, was characterized by a general satisfaction with the existing
economic order. He stated that he did not choose to run in 1928. After his
presidency, Coolidge lived quietly in Northampton, writing an unilluminating
autobiography and a syndicated column. He died there on Jan. 5,
1933.
1878 Missionary to African Americans J. F. Doescher, having
completed his first survey for the missionary board of the Synodical Conference,
returned to Altenburg, Missouri. The breakthrough had been made and in the 1880s
the work expanded into Virginia and in North and South Carolina. It was
intensified during the 1890s, and four clergy members of the black Alpha Synod
joined the Synodical Conference. These were David J. Kootz, Samuel Haupt, Nathan
Clapp and William Filo Phier. The addition of Rosa J. Young and her blessed work
in Alabama in 1916 added significantly to the interest and support within the
Synodical Conference for the work. Miss Young personally raised the funds to
operate the Rosebud Literary and Industrial School, which was later turned over
to the mission board as its first station in the Alabama field. Following World
War I, as blacks migrated out of the South, Synodical Conference work among
African Americans spread throughout the country. The centennial of this work was
celebrated in 1977.
1880 John Nicolas Henry Jahn, president of the
Porto Alegre seminary in Brazil, was born in Mishawaka, Indiana. He graduated
from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1905 and served as a pastor in
Copenhagen, Denmark; as an assistant professor at Concordia College (Bronxville,
New York); as a pastor in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and as president of Seminario
Concordia, Porto Alegre, Brazil, beginning in 1925. He received a Ph.D. from New
York University.
1885 Louis B. Mayer (Lazar Meir, Eliezer Mayer), Movie executive was born
in Minsk, Russia. From 1924 to 1951, Mayer reigned over Metro-Goldwin-Mayer
(MGM). With his production supervisor, Irving Thalberg, he made MGM a powerful
defining force in the motion picture industry of the 1930s and 1940s. His early
successes include Ben Hur (1926) and Grand Hotel (1932). He received a Special
Academy Award in 1950 for his contributions. Though domineering in management
style, the many actors whose careers he launched appreciated him. He died 29
October 1957
1887 The Bethany Indian Mission and Industrial School
was dedicated for the Winnebago Indians at Wittenberg, Wisconsin, by the
Norwegian Lutheran Church in America.
1918 Twins Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman) Columnist, born in Sioux
City, Iowa (Died in 2002) and Advice twins Ann Landers and her sister Abigail
Van Buren, (Pauline Esther Friedman -better known as Dear Abby) Also a
columnist.
1924 Actress Eva Marie Saint was born in Newark, New Jersey. She is
perhaps best known for her role opposite Cary Grant in Hitchcock's North by
Northwest (1959).
1927 Gina Lollobrigida, model and actress, was born in Subiaco, Italy.
Luigina Lollobrigida, as fashion model used the name Diane Loris. A former art
student and magazine model, "La Lollo" personified the movie star as sex symbol.
She began her film career in 1946, starring in several Italian movies before
coming to Hollywood. Her many film credits include Belles de Nuit (1952), Bread,
Love, and Dreams (1953), Trapeze (1956), and Strange Bedfellows (1966).
Lollobrigida semi-retired in the 1970s but appeared in the TV series Falcon
Crest in 1985. Her last film was XXL in 1997, with Gerard Depardieu.
1927 Neil Simon, playwright, producer born in Bronx, New York. Simon is a
Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning playwright known for his popular plays
about middle-class America that often touch on sex, marriage, and middle age.
His plays include Come Blow Your Horn (1961), Barefoot in the Park (1963), The
Odd Couple (1965), Sweet Charity (1966), Plaza Suite (1968) , Last of the Red
Hot Lovers (1969), The Sunshine Boys (1972), The Goodbye Girl (1977), Brighton
Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1988), Lost in Yonkers (1991) and 45 Seconds
From Broadway (2001). Most of Simon's plays have been made into
films.
1952 Luther's Small Catechism was published in
Japan.
1975 The Slavic Gospel Association moved its headquarters
from Chicago to nearby Wheaton, Illinois. Founded in 1934 by Rev. Peter Deyneka
Sr., SGA is an interdenominational mission agency whose ministry is focused on
Slavic peoples, primarily through radio broadcasting, evangelism, literature
production and Bible distribution in eight countries in Europe and South
America.
1984 Martin August Haendschke died (b. 1914). He
graduated from Concordia College (Milwaukee) in 1934 and from Concordia Seminary
(Saint Louis) in 1938. He served parishes in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Michigan and Missouri before teaching at Concordia College (Milwaukee) from 1964
to 1975. He then taught at Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) until his death. He
earned a doctor of theology degree from the Saint Louis seminary in 1961 and
also had a doctorate from Marquette University. He was also a licensed
psychologist.
1986 Kelsey Lee Hirt was born July 4th 1986 at 8:44 pm at Park Plaza Hospital in Houston Texas, across from Herman Park during the Fire Works Display weighing in at 4 lbs! Now healthy and happy, going to school in Austin TX.
1997 Death of Charles Kuralt, broadcast journalist. (Born in 1934) A
reporter who explored back roads and small towns, chronicling the lives of
ordinary Americans for his CBS News segment "On the Road." Kuralt started at CBS
in 1957, right out of college. He served as a foreign correspondent and national
reporter before hitting the road in the late 1960s. Kuralt also hosted CBS's
Sunday Morning.
Movie:
Born on the Fourth of July is a 1989 autobiographical film that tells the
story of Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who became an anti-war
activist.
Information for this website was gleaned from many sources and references
over many years. Special thanks to the Lutheran Church and Pearson
Education.
