Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (above) was born today in 1627, in Dijon, France. He has a reputation as one of the most eloquent preachers of all time, ranking alongside Augustine and John Chrysostom.
Pope Urban VII died in the Vatican, today in 1590, and so became the shortest reigning Pope in history (12 days). He died before he could be crowned Pope, but in just a few days on St Peter’s throne, he stopped his chamberlains from wearing silk, told the bakers of Rome to bake bigger loaves at cheaper prices to help the poor, and banned tobacco smoking in church.
On this day in 1739, John Wesley’s 2,000-strong audience were surprisingly saved when the floor of the upstairs hall he was preaching in collapsed. Thankfully, no one was injured, due to an extraordinary act of providence.
‘In the beginning of the expounding, there being a large vault underneath, the main beam which supported the floor broke. The floor immediately sunk, which occasioned much noise and confusion. But, two or three days before, a man had filled the vault with hogsheads of tobacco, so that the floor, after sinking a foot or two, rested upon them, and I went on without interruption.’ John Wesley, Journal
Pope Paul III issued the encyclical Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (‘To the government of the Church Militant’) today in 1540. He can just about be considered the first Pope of the Catholic Reformation, because although he was more interested in fine art and fabulous feasts than piety, this Bull established the Jesuits as an official order of the Church.
Pope Innocent XII, the last bearded Pope, died today in 1700.
Image: Internet Archive