On this day in 1987, Jim Bakker, multi-millionaire televangelist, was tragically forced to quit Praise The Lord TV for cheating on his wife, Tammy Faye (above). And she had only just given him a pair of giraffes for his birthday (not a euphemism).
Today in 1742, while preaching on a table in a field outside the town of Penfold, John Wesley was attacked by a gang who tried to drive a bull at him: ‘But the beast was wiser than his drivers and continually ran on one side of us or the other, while we quietly sang praise to God and prayed for about an hour.’
Today is St Joseph’s day, the husband of the Virgin Mary. Joseph is the patron saint of fathers, despite theologically not being allowed to be one.
St Joseph of Anchieta was born today in 1534, in Tenerife, the Canary Islands. He went as a Jesuit missionary to the Portuguese colony of Brazil and became a skilled ethnographer, observing and reporting on practices such as polygamy and cannibalism among the tribespeople. Held captive in 1563, he wrote a long poem to the Virgin Mary by writing lines on the wet sand of a beach, memorising them, and transcribing all 5,000 verses when he was released.
Hugh of Saint-Cher, the 13th century inventor of the biblical concordance, died today in 1263. His concordance, which gave an alphabetical list of words found in the Latin Vulgate Bible, took two years to produce, with the help of a team of friars. He also wrote a commentary on the whole Bible, as well as his Correctio Biblie, which examined all the different versions of the Vulgate, and attempted to get back to the original text. In doing that, he had a head start of several centuries over later biblical scholars.
Thomas Ken, an Anglican cleric and hymn writer, died today in 1711. Ken wrote two hymns, for morning and evening, which end with a doxology that has become famous in its own right:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Thomas Ken
Image: Peter K. Levy