Krzysztof Kieslowski, the Polish filmmaker, died today in 1996. His masterpieces include the 10-film series Dekalog (seen above in a Copenhagen street ad), based on the Ten Commandments, and the Three Colours trilogy. He left unfinished a trilogy about heaven, hell and purgatory.
Joseph Priestly, the theologian, chemist and Unitarian minister who discovered oxygen, was born today in 1733. His strong opinions about the corruption of Christianity earned him the nickname Gunpowder Joe, and he eventually had to flee to America.
‘We are, as it were, laying gunpowder, grain by grain, under the old building of error and superstition, which a single spark may hereafter inflame, so as to produce an instantaneous explosion; in consequence of which that edifice, the erection of which has been the work of ages, may be overturned in a moment.’ Joseph Priestley
While we’re on the subject of smoking ruins, the chimney of Rome’s Sistine Chapel started puffing white smoke at 7.06pm tonight in 2013, announcing the election of a new Pope. The man chosen to succeed Benedict XVI, who had resigned 13 days earlier, was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who took the name Francis, in homage to Francis of Assisi. Asked if he would accept the chair of St Peter, Bergoglio responded, ‘Although I am a sinner, I accept.’
Bishop Jack Holly died today in 1911 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The first African-American bishop of The Episcopal Church, Holly led a group of 110 emigrants to settle in Haiti in 1861, where they established churches, schools and rural healthcare programs.
Image: Jenni Konrad