It is St Urho’s day, the fictional saint (above) of Finland who drove all the frogs out of Finland with the power of his loud voice. He was invented by Finnish Americans living in Minnesota in the 1950s, who coveted the popularity of St Patrick’s Day. St Urho is also pretty good with grasshoppers, as seen in the statue in Menahga, Minnesota, above.
On this day in 1998 Pope John Paul II issued We Remember, an apology to the Jewish people for 2,000 years of abuse from Christians, which admitted no responsibility on the part of the church whatsoever.
‘Sentiments of anti-Judaism in some Christian quarters, and the gap which existed between the Church and the Jewish people, led to a generalized discrimination, which ended at times in expulsions or attempts at forced conversions.’ We Remember
By unhappy coincidence, today in 1190 saw the massacre of 150 Jewish people – including children – who had locked themselves into the wooden keep of York Castle to escape a murderous mob. The atrocity was part of a pattern of antisemitic violence across England brought about in part by the Crusades. Many of the trapped families chose to commit suicide, while everyone else died when the mob fired and then stormed the keep.
The complete New English Bible went on sale today in 1970, selling 1 million copies before the end of the day. The project was begun in 1946 when Rev GS Hendry at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland recommended ‘that a translation of the Bible be made in the language of the present day, inasmuch as the language of the Authorized Version, already archaic when it was made, had now become even more definitely archaic and less generally understood.’
Today in 1517 the Fifth Lateran Council banned the time-honoured tradition of looting vacant cardinal’s houses.
Today in 1244 saw the fall of the fortress of Montségur in southern France, after a siege by 10,000 troops. Inside were the Cathars, a sect considered heretical by the Catholic Church. When they refused to recant their beliefs, 244 of them were burned to death by the Inquisition. The names of many of them are remembered on this day every year in the town.
Image: Skvader