On this day in May
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 1
May 1:
- 1045 - Gregory VI is appointed Pope.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 2
May 2:
- 1601 - Athanasius Kircher, German Jesuit scholar (d. 1680)
- 1702 - Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian (d. 1782)
- 2007 - Buddhism: Vesak, celebration of the birth of Buddha.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 3
May 3:
- 1895 - Cornelius Van Til, philosopher and Christian apologist, born. (d. 1987)
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 4
May 4:
- 1256 - Augustinian monastic order constituted at Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae
- 1415 - Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus were condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 5
May 5:
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 6
May 6:
- 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, died fighting the forces of Charles V during the Sack of Rome in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape.
- 1536 - King Henry VIII orders translated Bibles be placed in every church.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 7
May 7:
- 1274 - In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
- 1429 - Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning wounded to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 8
May 8:
- 1828 - Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk, born. (d. 1898)
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 9
May 9:
- 328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria.
- 1092 - Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 10
May 10:
- 563 BC - Siddhartha Gautama, later Buddha, born. (d. 483 BC)
- 1887 - Mir Ghotbeddin Mohammad Angha, 40th Sufi master of the Oveyssi order, born. (d. 1962)
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 11
May 11:
- 1310 - 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 12
May 12:
- 1328 - Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 13
May 13:
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 14
May 14:
- 1608 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen.
- 1961 - The Canadian Unitarian Council was formed.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 15
May 15:
- 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. Torture quickly gains widespread usage across Catholic Europe.
- 1961 - The Unitarian Universalist Association was created via consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America. This consolidation brought into existence the liberal religion known as Unitarian Universalism.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 16
May 16:
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 17
May 17:
- 1809 - Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 18
May 18:
- 1268 - The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch; Baibars' destruction of the city of Antioch was so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.
- 1593 - Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 19
May 19:
- 1926 - Swami Kriyananda, Indian teacher and author, born.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 20
May 20:
- 325 - The First Council of Nicaea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church – is held.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 21
May 21:
- 1664 - Giulio Alberoni, Italian cardinal, born. (d. 1754)
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 22
May 22:
- 1377 - Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
- 1844 - Persian Prophet The Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábism. He announced to the world of the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest." To Baháʼís, he is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 23
May 23:
- 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne. (See Siege of Compiègne.)
- 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake, in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI.
- 1555 - Paul IV becomes Pope.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 24
May 24:
- 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 25
May 25:
- 1420 - Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
- 1521 - The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 26
May 26:
- 1328 - William of Ockham, Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena, and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing a sentence of death from Pope John XXII.
- 1538 - Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 27
May 27:
- 1601 - Antoine Daniel, Jesuit missionary and one of Canadian Martyrs, born. (d. 1648)
- 1908 - Khalifatul Masih, The birth of the Second Manifestation of God's power in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 28
May 28:
- 1503 - James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married by Pope Alexander VI according to Papal Bull.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 29
May 29:
- 757 - Paul I succeeds Stephen II as pope.
- 1414 - Council of Constance.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 30
May 30:
- 1416 - The Roman Catholic Church burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.
- 1431 - Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.
Portal:Religion/On this day/May 31
May 31:
- 1898 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman, born. (d. 1993)