The Dutch master painter and printmaker Rembrandt van Rijn (above) died in Amsterdam, today in 1669. Buried in an unmarked grave, his remains were later destroyed, which was common practice at the time, but still.
Today in 1582 became 15 October, with a switchover between the old Julian Calendar, which was 11 days out of step with time, and the new Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who decreed it. As it was a Catholic innovation, it took Protestant and Orthodox countries several centuries to get over themselves and update their calendars.
St Teresa of Ávila, the Spanish mystic and theologian, died sometime around midnight today in 1582, which means she died either on 4 or 15 October, as the new Gregorian Calendar came into effect (see above). Among her final words, she said:
‘Over my spirit flash and float in divine radiancy the bright and glorious visions of the world to which I go.’ Teresa of Avila
Today in 1535, printing was completed on the Miles Coverdale Bible, the first complete translation of the Bible in modern English. Coverdale’s translation of the Psalms (which he made using Luther’s German Bible and the Latin Vulgate) were absorbed into the Church of England Book of Common Prayer, and have been read and sung ever since.
‘And he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side: that will bring forth his fruit in due season. His leaf also shall not wither: and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper. As for the ungodly, it is not so with them: but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth.’ Psalm 1, Miles Coverdale
It is St Francis of Assisi’s Day. In a life full of incident (even discounting the apocryphal stuff), he was converted by a talking crucifix, stripped himself naked before his bishop to prove his vocation, founded the Franciscan order, preached the gospel to the birds, and also to the Sultan of Egypt during the Crusades, invented the Christmas crib, and received the stigmata continuously for two years until his death, bleeding from the five places of the wounds of Christ. He died on 3 October 1226.
Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army alongside her husband William Booth, died today in 1890.