TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1582, the Spanish Carmelite nun Teresa of Avila died in Alba de Tormes. After entering the Convent of the Incarnation of Avila in 1536, she went on to found 16 other Carmelite convents between 1567 and 1582. She was canonized in 1622. Her order claimed descent from hermits who had lived on the holy mountain of Carmel in biblical times.

In 1710, Canada’s first Anglican church service was held in Chebucto, N.S.

In 1801, the Sable Island Humane Establishment was set up as a year-round lifeguard settlement on the sandbar off Nova Scotia known as a deathtrap to seafarers.

In 1864, the Fathers of Confederation met in Quebec to discuss the feasibility of a political union of British North America. The 33 delegates from Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island passed 72 resolutions as an outline to the proposed federal union. These eventually formed the core of the 1867 British North America Act.

In 1911, Sir Robert Borden succeeded Sir Wilfrid Laurier as prime minister of Canada.

In 1913, the Panama Canal was effectively completed as U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House by telegraph, setting off explosives that destroyed a section of the Gamboa dike.