November 17, 3 B.C.: According to early church father Clement of Alexandria (c.155-c.220), Jesus was born on this date (issue 59: Jesus of Nazareth).
November 17, 270 (traditional date): Gregory Thaumaturgus (“The Wonder Worker”), a well-loved bishop in Pontus and the author of the first Christian biography (on Origen) dies. A legend, from a generation later, about the Virgin Mary visiting him is the first account of a Marian apparition (see issue 57: Converting the Empire).
November 17, 1558: Elizabeth I’s accession to the English throne leads to the re-establishment of the Church of England.
November 17, 1961: Charles H. Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ, dies. His was the first major denomination to emerge from the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, where Mason received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (see issue 58: Pentecostalism).
