This week in religion history — Oct. 14- 20

OCT. 14

In 1644, William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was born in London. A convert to Quakerism who was often jailed, he was given territory in North America in exchange for a debt. He and several friends settled in Pennsylvania and he planned the city of Philadelphia.

In 1841, Queen’s College ( now Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.) obtained a royal charter as a Presbyterian institution of higher learning.

In 1885, the first Mormon settlers arrived in southern Alberta.

In 1964, American civil rights leader Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advocating a policy of non- violence.

OCT. 15

In 1582, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in Catholic countries. As a result 10 days were lost as the calendar jumped from Oct. 4 to Oct. 15.

In 1701, Mother Marie d’Youville, founder of the Grey Nuns, was born near Montreal. In 1990, Pope John Paul canonized her as Canada’s first saint.

In 1880, after 600 years of construction, the Grand Cathedral in Cologne, Germany was completed.

In 1969, Herbert Gray, an MP for Windsor West, became Canada’s first Jewish cabinet minister when he was appointed as a minister without portfolio by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

In 1969, Canada and the Vatican established diplomatic relations.

OCT. 16

In 1555, in Oxford, England, bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake for heresy because of their Protestant beliefs.

In 1953, a report issued by the Roman Catholic Church in Canada discouraged teenagers from forming steady romantic attachments.

In 1978, the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Karol Cardinal Wojtyla to be Pope. Wojtyla, a Pole who became the first non- Italian pope since 1542, took the name John Paul II.

In 1992, members of the audience at Madison Square Garden booed Irish singer Sinead O’Connor during an all- star tribute to Bob Dylan. Two weeks earlier, O’Connor had ripped up a picture of the pope during an appearance on Saturday Night Live.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II celebrated 25th anniversary as head of the Roman Catholic church.

OCT. 17

In 1483, Pope Sixtus IV launched the Spanish Inquisition, placing it under the joint direction of the Catholic Church and state. Tomas de Torquemada, 63, was appointed Grand Inquisitor in charge of removing Jews and Muslims from Spain.

In 1978, Jean Amery, Holocaust survivor, Austrian writer and commentator on current affairs, committed suicide. He had been in the concentration camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Bregen Belsen in the years 1943 to 1945 where he was tortured. His concept, contained in such works as At the Mind’s Limits, of “losing trust in the world” was his main contribution to understanding the Holocaust and the violations of humanity.

In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her years of work on behalf of the destitute in Calcutta.

In 2010, Pope Benedict XIV formally canonized Montreal’s Brother Andre, a small, humble Roman Catholic brother. He became Canada’s first saint of the 21st century. He was the founder of St. Joseph’s Oratory and was credited with miracle healings before his death in 1937.

OCT. 18

In 1534, Paul III was elected Pope. He reformed the Catholic Church and forbade the practice of selling church appointments and spiritual favours. However, he was unable to heal the rift of the Reformation.

In 1646, Rev. Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit priest and founder of the Mohawk mission, was killed in Midland, Ont. Jogues, 39, was considered a sorcerer by the Mohawks for spreading smallpox in an earlier peace mission. They killed him with a hatchet blow to the head. The Iroquois also blamed him for the drought and famine that followed his earlier visit. In 1930, Jogues and seven other martyrs of the Huron missions were canonized.

In 1662, Matthew Henry, English Presbyterian pastor, was born. He is remembered for his Exposition of the Old and New Testaments ( 170810), still in print, whose value lies in its devotional and practical comments on the books of the Bible.

In 1685, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which had established the legal toleration of France’s Protestant population, the Hugenots. Thousands fled the country, greatly weakening the economy.

In 1949, country songwriter Stuart Hamblen underwent a spiritual conversion. Author of the popular 1954 hit This Old House, Hamblen later wrote such Christian favourites as It Is No Secret What God Can Do, How Big is God? and They That Wait Upon the Lord.

In 1992, country singer Naomi Judd declared during The Hour of Power evangelical TV program that God had cured her of the chronic hepatitis that broke up The Judds a year earlier. Daughter Wynonna went on to a very successful solo career.

In 2004, an Anglican Church commission urged Canadian and American dioceses to stop blessing samesex relationships and encouraged both sides of the divide over homosexuality to apologize as a first step in reconciling differences that threaten to split the church apart.

OCT. 19

In 1656, Massachusetts passed a law preventing the further immigration of Quakers into the Puritan colony. This resulted in the establishment of Pennyslvania as a Quaker colony.

In 1745, English satirist, churchman and political writer Jonathan Swift, died.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa before a crowd of 300,000 at the Vatican, calling her an icon of charity and launching her on the fast track to sainthood.

OCT. 20

In 1632, Sir Christopher Wren, British astronomer and architect, was born. He designed 53 London churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, as well as several secular buildings such as Kensington Palace and Greenwich Hospital. He was also a founder of the Royal Society.

In 1828, American lawyer and hymnwriter Horatio Gates Spafford was born. In 1873, upon learning of the drowning of his four daughters following a ship collision in the Atlantic, Spafford penned the lines to the hymn, It is Well With My Soul.

In 2009, in a bold move, the Vatican announced a new structure within the Catholic Church to make it easier for disaffected Anglicans to convert to Catholicism.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution declaring the first week of February World Interfaith Harmony Week.