Martin Luther Bible

21 September, 1522: Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament is published. Luther’s translated the Bible into the vernacular German language making it more accessible to ordinary people. The Luther Bible was not the first German Bible translation, but it was the most influential having a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. Luther even had large-print Bibles made for those who had failing eyesight.

The translation also furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible.

Martin Luther translates the Bible into German.

St. Francis of Assisi

20 September, 1224: On or about this date, on Italy’s secluded Mount Alvernia, Francis of Assisi reportedly prayed, “O Lord, I beg of you two graces before I die—to experience in myself in all possible fullness the pains of your cruel passion, and to feel for you the same love that made you sacrifice yourself for us.” Soon his heart was filled with both joy and pity, and wounds appeared on his hands, feet, and side. He reportedly carried these scars (called stigmata – divine marks corresponding to those left on Christ’s body by the Crucifixion,) until his death in 1226.

Frederick St George de Lautour (Booth)Tucker – ( Photo from http://www.salvationarmy.org/India)

19 September, 1882: Salvation Army starts its work in India. The Salvation Army was started in 1865 by William Booth as “The Christian Mission” in London to work among the poor and the unchurched people. Later he changed the mission’s name to the Salvation Army.

India is the Salvation Army’s oldest mission field. Frederick St George de Latour Tucker, of the Indian Civil Service, read a copy of The War Cry, and became a Salvationist taking the Indian name of Fakir Singh. He commenced the Army work in Bombay on 19 September 1882. The adoption of Indian food, dress, names and customs gave the pioneers ready access to the people, especially in the villages. In addition to evangelistic work, various social programmes were inaugurated for the relief of distress from famine, flood and epidemic. Educational facilities such as elementary, secondary and industrial schools, cottage industries and settlements, were provided for the depressed classes by the Salvation Army. ~ http://www.salvationarmy.org

18 September, 1858: Birth of Kate Booth (d.9 May 1955). She was the oldest daughter of William and Catherine Booth. Kate Booth brought the Salvation Army to France. As a captain, she led two lieutenants in preaching the Gospel in Paris, wearing sandwich boards when the police forbid them to hand out leaflets. They were not well received. Their street-corner sermons were often interrupted by people pelting them with mud and stones. After repeated attempts by men on the roads to strangle them by their bonnet strings, they began pinning the strings on rather than sewing them. She married Arthur Clibborn and had 10 children.

After becoming Pentecostals in 1906, the Booth-Clibborns together continued preaching and spreading the Gospel as travelling evangelists in Europe, the United States, and Australia for the rest of their lives.

The ‘Kate Booth House’, a Salvation Army residential environment for women and children fleeing family violence in Vancouver, British Columbia, was named in her honour.

Catherine Booth-Clibborn (Katie Booth)

16 September, 1498: Tomas de Torquemada (b.1420), Dominican friar and the first Spanish Inquisitor General, dies. He burned over 2,000 victims, tortured thousands more, and in some areas, burnt at the stake as many as 40 percent of those accused. He was closely associated with the religious policies of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain. His legacy will always be marred by the violence and barbaric methods used to ‘protect’ the faith. 

Inquisition is broadly used, to refer to things related to judgment of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church. It can mean an ecclesiastical tribunal or institution from the Roman Catholic Church for combating or suppressing heresy, or the trial of an individual accused of heresy. Inquisitor General is the lead official of an Inquisition.

Tomás de Torquemada