March 11, 843: Eastern churches officially reintroduced and sanctioned icons, after an 89-year controversy that occasionally turned violent (see issue 54: Eastern Orthodoxy).
March 11, 1513: Leo X is elected pope. His eight-year tenure, marked by gross excesses and immorality, would culminate his 1520 excommunication of Martin Luther (see issue 34: Luther’s Early Years).
March 11, 1812: Fire engulfs missionary William Carey’s print shop in Serampore, India, destroying his massive polyglot dictionary, two grammar books, sets of type for 14 eastern languages, and whole versions of the Bible. Undaunted, Carey said, “The loss is heavy, but as traveling a road the second time is usually done with greater ease and certainty than the first time, so I trust the work will lose nothing of real value . . . We are cast down but not in despair.” News of the fire also catapulted Carey to fame, bringing in abundant funds and volunteer labor (see issue 36: William Carey).
March 11, 1965: White Boston minister James J. Reeb dies after being beaten during a civil rights demonstration in Selma, Alabama.
