Today is the feast day of St Mark the Evangelist (above, centre, with dark hair). His Gospel, the shortest of the four Gospels, went unvalued for centuries, until 19th century scholars realised it was probably the first to be written, and that it had been cherry-picked by Matthew and Luke when they wrote their Gospels. An early tradition says that Mark’s Gospel contains eye-witness stories by the disciple Peter, and that Mark was Peter’s interpreter on his travels around the Roman Empire.
‘A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.’ Mark’s possible self-portrait, in chapter 14 of his Gospel
Oliver Cromwell was born today in Huntingdon in 1599. His parents Robert and Elizabeth had 10 children, but Oliver was the only son to survive infancy. He became a farmer politician, and it was his Puritan army that defeated and executed King Charles I in the English Civil War. ‘Trust God and keep your powder dry’ – that was his catchphrase.
Pope Leo III was attacked on the streets of Rome by an armed gang today in 799, the result of a plot hatched by the relatives of the previous Pope. The gang attempted to tear out his tongue and eyes, but he was rescued by the envoys of Charlemagne, King of the Franks. The following year, on Christmas Day 800, Leo returned the favour by crowning Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans in Old St Peter’s Basilica, Rome.
William Cowper, the English poet and hymnwriting partner of John Newton, died today in 1800. He suffered depression and poor mental health throughout his life. His most famous hymn, ‘Light Shining out of Darkness’, was written shortly before the onset of a depression in which he tried to drown himself.
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
William Cowper, ‘Light Shining out of Darkness’
Today is also the feast day of Pope Anianus of Alexandria (above, sitting), Mark the Evangelist’s first convert when he came to the city in the 1st century AD. According to the story, Mark’s sandal came apart as he was walking from the port. Anianus, then a cobbler, started to repair it, but accidentally pierced his hand with a sharp tool and cried out in pain, ‘God is one!’ Mark, spotting an evangelistic opportunity, spoke to him about the gospel, healed his wound, baptised his family, and the rest is history.
Image: SMB-digital