On This Day ...
February 17
• In 1673, the French playwright and satirist Moliere died aged 51. His real name was Jean Baptiste Poquilen, and he'd been suffering from tuberculosis for some seven years. Treated by incompetent and superstitious doctors, he got his own back by writing three inspired parodies lampooning the medical profession. In the final one, "La malade imaginaire," the joke rebounded on him. He was playing a starring role as a hypochondriac when he suffered a for-real coughing fit and burst a blood vessel. A true player to the last, he managed to finish the performance, and only then took his final vow.
• In 1904, Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" was premiered at La Scala, Milan. It was hissed off the stage, and critics called this the story of ill-starred love of a geisha girl and an American naval officer "Puccini's fiasco." He replied, "It is I who am right. You shall see!" He wrote it, and they did.
- from Today's the Day! By Jeremy Beadle
In Christian history - • In 1815, in deciding the legal case "Terrett vs. Taylor," the U. S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional an act of the Virginia Legislature which denied property rights to Protestant Episcopal churches in the state. The Court ruled that religious corporations, like other corporations, have rights to their property.
- from This Day in Christian History
By William D. Blake
In the Philippines - • In 1872, the Three Martyred Priests, Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Apolonio Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, better known for the acronym GOMBURZA, were executed by garrote by the Spaniards in Bagumbayan in connection with the 1872 Cavite Mutiny.
• In 1897, the Battle of Zapote Bridge between the Spanish forces and the Filipino revolutionaries led by General Emilio Aguinaldo took place.
- kahimyang.info
In Cebu - • In1923, Thomas R. Baguio, native of Cordova, Mactan, and prominent poet and journalist, died.
- from Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos