April 4, 397: Ambrose of Milan, the most talented bishop of the early church, dies. Biblical exegete, political theorist, master of Latin eloquence, musician, and teacher, he brought Roman Emperor Theodosius I to his knees in repentance after the emperor ordered a massacre of his citizens (This marked the first time the state submitted to the church). But he is perhaps best known for teaching his most famous pupil,Augustine of Hippo (see issue 15:Augustine and issue 67:Augustine).
April 4, 636: Isidore, spanish scholar and archbishop of Seville dies. His most extensive and famous work was his Etymologiae (Etymologies), an extensive encyclopedia of early medieval knowledge that, unlike other such works, used liberal arts and secular learning as the foundation of Christian education. (Isidore did remark, however, that it would be better to be without the knowledge of heretics than to be misled by their comments.)
April 4, 1507: Martin Luther is ordained a priest in Erfurt, Germany (see issue 34: Luther’s Early Years).
April 4, 1541: Spanish ascetic and theologian Ignatius of Loyola is elected the first General of the Jesuit Order (or the Society of Jesus), which he had founded the previous year.
April 4, 1687: James II issues a Declaration of Indulgence allowing full liberty of worship in England. The government allowed Nonconformists to meet (though justices of the peace had to be notified), forgave penalties for ecclesiastical offenses and no longer required oaths of supremacy and allegiance for those in royal service. Thus the declaration severely threatened Anglican control of church and state.
April 4, 1742: Charles Wesley preaches his famous sermon, “Awake, thou that sleepest,” to the University of Oxford. The sermon soon became Methodism’s most popular tract (see issue 2: John Wesley, issue 69: The Wesleys and issue 31: Golden Age of Hymns).
April 4, 1968: Civil rights leader and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
