Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572) It was on this date, August 24, 1572, that the bloodiest massacre of Christians by Christians began in France – the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The Reformation of the corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic Church, which had begun in Germany, had spread to France and gained many followers, including […]

World Council of Churches Formed (1948): What is a Church? It was on this date, August 23, 1948, that the World Council of Churches was formed in Amsterdam, Holland. Over 100 Protestant churches agreed to tolerate each other's existence at an ecumenical conference in 1937. The next year, a provisional committee met at Utrecht to […]

Bernard Becomes a Saint (1153): What Sainthood Means It was on this date, August 21, 1153, that Bernard of Clairvaux, canonized a Catholic "saint" in 1170 by Pope Alexander III, died in the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux, in France. Bernard was born in 1090, at Fontaines, near Dijon, France, and at age 25 was entrusted […]

King of Siam's Eclipse (1868): Churches and Eclipses It was on this date, August 18, 1868, that a total solar eclipse, called the King of Siam's Eclipse, Saros Series 133, was seen in what is now Thailand. This was during the reign of the very same King Mongkut who figures in the book by Anna […]

Bill Clinton's "Map Room" Speech (1998): Churches and Confession It was on this date, August 17, 1998, that then-President Bill Clinton made his famous Map Room speech – a confession that he did indeed have inappropriate sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinski. Although not a Roman Catholic, President Clinton's simultaneously regretful and defiant […]

The Last Temptation of Christ Released (1988) It was on this date, August 12, 1988, that Martin Scorsese's film, The Last Temptation of Christ, was released in the United States. Even before it opened in nine theaters across the US (initially), the film had inspired controversy – not only from the usual, narrow-minded fundamentalists, who […]

Royal Observatory Opens (1675): Churches v. Astronomy It was on this date, August 10, 1675, that, by order of King Charles II, the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, south London, was laid. The rationale was chiefly commercial: to improve knowledge of the positions of stars in order to aid navigation. The first […]

The Virgin Mary (1555) Religion and Virginity It was on this date, August 7, 1555, that Pope Paul IV, newly elected and nearly 80, issued an Ecclesiastical Constitution called "Cum quorundam," making it an article of faith that Mary, the mother of Jesus, "was a virgin before, during, and after the conception and birth of […]

Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur published (1485) An “Age of Chivalry”? It was on this date, July 31, 1485, that the source of the Arthurian legends as we know them today, eight romances known as Le Morte D'Arthur, was published in London.* The work was written by Sir Thomas Malory (c 1405-1471) and was published […]

Urban VIII (d. 1644) It was on this date, July 29, 1644, that the pope who will be remembered throughout history as the persecutor of Galileo, Urban VIII, died at Rome. It had been 18 months since his victim had died in Florence, while under a house arrest, which Urban did nothing to mitigate. Born […]