Pages from History: 27 June, 1880, Birth of Helen Keller
27 June, 1880: Birth of Helen Keller (d.1 June 1968) in Tuscumbia, a little town of northern Alabama, USA.
As a baby of nineteen months, Helen Keller was stricken with a severe illness which left her totally blind and deaf. Then Anne Mansfield Sullivan a English teacher came to teach her and there began that remarkable story of her development into a woman of great culture and spiritual insight.
Helen Keller devoted her life to helping blind and deaf-blind people. She appeared before US state and national legislatures and international forums, travelled around the world to lecture and to visit areas with a high incidence of blindness, and wrote numerous books and articles. She is known as a symbol of Hope for blind people across the world.
Miss Sullivan reading to Miss Keller, circa 1898 (http://www.afb.org)
Pages from History: 25 June, 1865, Formation of China Inland Mission
25 June, 1865: Formation of China Inland Mission. English Missionary J Hudson Taylor is the founder of the China Inland Mission. Its missionaries were not having any guaranteed salary. They never appealed for funds. They trusted in God for all their needs and they even adopted the Chinese way of dressing.
J. Hudson Taylor
(http://www.jameswatkins.com/hudsontaylor.htm)
Pages from History: 20-26 June, 1599: Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor)
20-26 June, 1599: Synod of Diamper (Udayamperoor) was held under the president ship of Aleixo de Menezes, (25 January 1559 – 3 May 1617) the then Archbishop of Goa. One of the decrees of the synod about marriage reads as follows “No man shall be married hereafter, until he has attained the age of fourteen years at least, nor any woman before she is fully twelve.”
Archbishop Aleixo de Menezes (http://www.ibiblio.org)
Pages from History:- Birth of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg (1682)
10 June, 1682: Birth of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg.
Ziegenbalg was born in a little Saxony town called Pulsnitz in southeast Germany. His parents were God fearing Christians with a missionary outlook.
With the help of King Frederick IV of Denmark, Ziegenbalg and his friend started their sea journey to India on 29 Nov 1705 and reached the coast of present Tamil Nadu, a place called Tranquebar on 9 July 1706.
They were the first protestant Missionaries to India and hence 9th July is celebrated as the birthday of Protestant Missions in India. Ziegenbalg passed away on 23 Feb 1719.
Pages from History: William Carey passes away (1834)
9 June, 1834: William Carey often called “the father of modern Protestant missions” dies, having spent 41 years in India without a furlough. His mission could count only about 700 converts, but he had laid a foundation of Bible translations, education, and social reform.
He also inspired the missionary movement of the nineteenth century, especially with his cry, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God “. As per his will he was buried in the Serampore Cemetery with the following inscription on the tomb stone “William Carey, Born 17 Aug 1761, Died 9 June, 1834; A wretched, poor and helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall”.
William Carey: The Shoemaker Who Became the Founder of Modern Missions; (John Brown Myers; London 1887)
William Carey’s tombstone at the Serampore Christian burial grounds (Photo from http://www.careyfamilynetwork.co.uk)
Pages from History : 6 June, 1844: Formation of YMCA
6 June, 1844: Formation of Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).
The Young Men’s Christian Association was founded in London, England, on June 6, 1844, in response to unhealthy social conditions arising in big cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution (roughly 1750-1850). Growth of the railroads and centralization of commerce and industry brought many rural young men in need of jobs to cities like London.
They worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. Far from home and family, these young men often lived at the workplace. They slept crowded into rooms over the company’s shop, a location thought to be safer than London’s tenements and streets. Outside the shop, things were bad -open sewers, pickpockets, thugs, beggars, drunks, lovers for hire and abandoned children running wild by the thousands.
In India, YMCA was introduced in the last quarter of the 19th century. National Council of YMCA’s in India was established in 1891.
Pages from History: Anglican Church ordains first priest from Pulaya Community (1931)
31 May, 1931: Anglican Church ordains first priest from Pulaya Community. Due to the work of CMS missionaries many people from the backward classes were converted to Christianity. But Syrian Christians were not willing to worship with them or accommodate them in their churches or society.
Special churches were made to for them and they were treated as untouchables by the high Class Syrian Christians. On 31st May, 1931, Mr. P. J. Isaac a member of the Pulaya community was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Moore in an effort to eradicate this social evil.
Pages from History: 26 May 1914 Birth Centenary of of Rt. Rev. Thomas Mar Athanasius Suffragan Metropolitan.
26 May, 1914: Birth of Rt. Rev. Thomas Mar Athanasius. Thirumeni was born to the Panampunnayil family at Kottayam. He was ordained as a Deacon of the Church in 1944 and as Kassessa in 1946.
On 20 May, 1953, he was consecrated as Bishop. He was designated as Suffragan Metropolitan in May 1978 together with Philipose Mar Chrysostom. He guided the evangelistic activities of the whole Church for many years.
The college for women at Perumbavoor was established under his inspiring leadership. Thirumeni was called to eternal rest on 27th November, 1984.
Rt. Rev. Thomas Mar Athanasius
Pages from History: 21 May, 1921: V. Nagel, author of “Samayamaam radhaththil” passes away.
21 May, 1921: V. Nagel, author of “Samayamaam radhaththil” passes away. Born in Germany on 3 November, 1867, he came to India in 1893, as a missionary. Along with his wife Harriet, he worked in Kunnamkulam, North Paravur, Trichur and Kumbanadu.
He has written more than 100 hymns in Malayalam. Hymn Nos. 57, 144(135), 153(143), 155(145), 203(392), 214(199), 223(208), 238(216), 239(217), 242(220), 244(222), 287, 294(280), 298(284), 300, 301, 325(319), 374(257), 380(260), 382(262), 390(269), 402(294) ,405(353) and 411(354) in Kristheeya Keerththanangal – ( Hymn Book of the Mar Thoma Church) are written by him.
V. Nagel
Pages from History: 20 May 1506 , Christopher Columbus passes away
20 May, 1506: Christopher Columbus, who saw himself as a missionary, and not just as an explorer, dies impoverished in Spain at the age of 55. “I hope in our Lord that it will be the greatest honor to Christianity that, unexpectedly, has ever come about,” he concluded in the log of his first voyage to the Americas.
Christopher Columbus
Nalloor Library 