Today in History (April 23):

During the last three centuries, Easter has fallen on April 23 only four times: 1848, 1905, 1916 and 2000. It will next occur on this date in 2079.

303 Saint George, Christian martyr, is commemorated.

997 Adalbert of Prague, "Apostle of Prussia," was martyred. Born in 939 of a noble Bohemian family, he was educated at Magdeburg and served as bishop of Prague from 983 to about 988/989, at which time he resigned in conflict with the Duke of Bohemia. He became Benedictine in Rome for a time, then was bishop of Prague again from 992 to 994. He then was a missionary in Hungary, Poland and Prussia, where he was martyred.

1073 Hildebrand (ca. 1020-1085) was elected pope, taking the name Gregory VII. He was born perhaps near Siena, Tuscany, Italy, and is regarded by many as the most noteworthy character of the Middle Ages after Charlemagne. He was closely associated with previous popes from Leo IX and instituted reforms directed against clerical concubinage, simony and lay investiture. He compelled emperor Henry IV to humble penance at Canossa in 1077, after which Henry besieged Gregory at Rome. Gregory was later freed but forced into exile in 1084.

1500 Alexander Alesius, Scottish Lutheran theologian, was born at Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1565). He was educated at Saint Andrews and became canon of Saint Andrews. He was won for the Reformation by Patrick Hamilton. Imprisoned, he escaped to Germany and became acquainted with Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon. He visited England in 1535 and became professor of theology at Frankfurt an der Oder in 1540. He was active in England under Edward VI and from 1543 he was at Leipzig University, where he was rector at least twice.

1538 John Calvin and William Farel (whom Calvin was assisting) were banished from Geneva. The day before, Easter Sunday, both had refused to administer communion, saying the city was too full of vice to partake. Three years later Calvin returned to the city he would forever be associated with.

1586 Martin Rinckart, German clergyman, Latin scholar, chorister and hymnist, was born in Eilenberg, Saxony (d. 1649). He was acquainted with the sufferings of the Reformation during much of his life and was a prolific writer of prose and verse. His most enduring verse is the hymn "Nun danket alle Gott" ("Now Thank We All Our God"). He served his church in Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), and since more than eight thousand people died in his city (he was the only pastor there), Rinckart officiated at as many as forty funerals a day, including one for his own wife.

1789 The first issue of the _Courier de Boston_, America's first Roman Catholic newspaper, rolled off the presses. It folded in less than six months (15 October 1789).

1803 Gerrit Parmele Judd, medical missionary to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), was born in Paris, New York (d. 12 January 1873). He was sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to Hawaii in 1828 and served as an interpreter and recorder of Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli; 1813�1854; king of the Sandwich Islands from 1825 to 1854). He organized the first Hawaiian cabinet in 1843 and became minister of finance in 1844.

1828 Fenton John Anthony Hort, English New Testament textual critic and biblical scholar, was born (d. 1892). He and B. F. Westcott edited the famous 1881 critical edition of the Greek New Testament, which became the textual foundation for nearly all modern translations of the Bible. Educated at Rugby, then at Trinity College, Cambridge, he became the Huslean Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. He taught there most of his life and became closely associated with two other famous Cambridge scholars, J. B. Lightfoot and B. F. Weston.

1843 Followers of the farmer-prophet William Miller, forerunner of the Seventh-Day Adventists, gathered throughout the U.S. to await the return of Christ and the end of the world that Miller had predicted. After much anticipation, nothing happened.

1858 Horace Newton Allen, missionary to China and Korea, was born in Delaware, Ohio (d. 1932). He was a diplomat and served as a Presbyterian medical missionary. He was educated at Ohio Wesleyan University (Delaware, Ohio) and Miami Medical College (Miami, Ohio) before becoming a missionary in 1884. He saved the life of a prince and others in a revolution. He then served as the medical officer to the Korean Court and also established Protestant missions in Korea. He held various government positions and is the author of a number of volumes dealing with Korea.

1860 An independent Scandinavian synod was planned in Chicago with Lars Esbjoern as leader. Esbjoern earlier had resigned from the Synod of Northern Illinois due to theological disagreements with other members of the synod. His resignation was endorsed at the meeting of the two Scandinavian conferences in Chicago, and the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America was later formed. This union that included Norwegians and Swedes continued until 1870, when it was dissolved into separate ethnic synods at a meeting of the synod in Andover, Illinois, with the Swedish body retaining the name "Augustana."

1888 Edward Hopper, American Presbyterian clergyman and hymnist, died in New York City (b. 1816). With the exception of eleven years, he spent his entire ministry in his home town of New York City at the Church of the Sea and Land. He is author of the hymn "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me."

1926 Carl Frederick William Huth, Concordia College (Milwaukee) professor, died (b. 30 November 1857, Nieden, Brandenburg, Germany). He was educated at Northwestern University (later called Northwestern College), Watertown, Wisconsin, and at Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis). He was a prof at the Milwaukee school from 1881 to 1926.

1926 A site for a Lutheran seminary was secured in Hankow, China.

1934 Lowell Thomas on the news: "In Germany ten thousand German Protestants gathered in the old city of Ulm and denounced Hitler's chief bishop. The assembly called upon the Nazi state to keep its hands off the affairs of the Church."

1942 Anglican high-church clergyman William Temple (1881�1944) was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury at age 61. Ordained in 1908, Temple combined philosophical leadership skills with theological acuteness and social awareness. He was a pioneer in ecumenical affairs, presiding at the meeting which inaugurated the British Council of Churches.

1960 Toyohiko Kagawa, renewer of society, died (b. 1888, Kobe, Japan). He was a Presbyterian evangelist and social reformer who studied theology in Japan and sociology in the U.S. He founded the first labor federation in Japan in 1918, as well as the Peasant Union in 1921, the Anti-War League in 1928 and the Kingdom of God Movement in 1930. His works include _The Religion of Jesus_, _Christ and Japan_, _Songs from the Slums_ and _The Two Kingdoms_.

1968 The Evangelical United Brethren Church (750,000 members) joined with the much larger Methodist Church (10.3 million members), forming the United Methodist Church, the largest Methodist group in the world and America's second-largest Protestant denomination.