On this day in April
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 1
April 1:
- 1684 - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist, dies. (b. 1603)
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 2
April 2:
- 2005 - Pope John Paul II dies. (b. 1920)
- 2007 - Judaism: First day of Passover, celebrating the Exodus and freedom from slavery of the Children of Israel from ancient Egypt that followed the Ten plagues.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 3
April 3:
- 2004 - Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves with explosives.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 4
April 4:
- 1718 - Benjamin Kennicott, English churchman and Hebrew scholar, born. (d. 1783)
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 5
April 5:
- 1566 - 200 Netherlands noblemen, led by Hendrik van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Inquisition in the Netherlands and demanding its immediate dismantling. Margaret agrees to suspend the Inquisition while a delegation is sent to Spain to petition Philip II himself.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 6
April 6:
- 1830 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Fayette, New York.
- 2007 - Christianity: Good Friday, observance of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 7
April 7:
- 1655 - Fabio Chigi becomes Pope Alexander VII.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 8
April 8:
- 1093 - The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.
- 1139 - Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated.
- 1149 - Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum.
- 2007 - Christianity: Easter, observance of the resurrection of Jesus.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 9
April 9:
- 475 - Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysiste christological position.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 10
April 10:
- 1829 - William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army, born. (d. 1912)
- 2007 - Judaism: Last day of Passover, celebrating the Exodus and freedom from slavery of the Children of Israel from ancient Egypt that followed the Ten plagues.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 11
April 11:
- 1775 - Last execution for witchcraft in Germany.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 12
April 12:
- 1633 - The formal inquest of Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition begins.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 13
April 13:
- 1055 - Victor II is consecrated pope.
- 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople.
- 1250 - The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt, Louis IX of France is captured.
- 1256 - The Grand Union of the Augustinian order when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
- 1598 - Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
- 1742 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland.
- 1829 - The British Parliament grants freedom of religion to Roman Catholics.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 14
April 14:
- 1205 - Battle of Adrianople between Bulgars and Crusaders.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 15
April 15:
- 1997 - Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 16
April 16:
- AD 73 - Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Jewish Revolt.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 17
April 17:
- 1521 - Martin Luther speaks to the assembly at the Diet of Worms, refusing to recant his teachings.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 18
April 18:
- 1906 - The Los Angeles Times runs a front-page story on the Azusa Street Revival, launching Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 19
April 19:
- 1012 - Martyrdom of St. Alphege in Greenwich, London.
- 1529 - At the Diet of Speyer, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities (German: Reichsstadt) protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms, beginning the Protestant movement.
- 1692 - Bridget Bishop goes on trial in Salem, Massachusetts for witchcraft.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 20
April 20:
- 1303 - The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 21
April 21:
- 1863 - Quantrill's Raiders launch a reprisal raid Lawrence, Kansas in the Battle of Lawrence, killing a number of civilians.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 22
April 22:
- 1993 - The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC is dedicated.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 23
April 23:
- 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 24
April 24:
- 624 - Mellitus, third Archbishop of Canterbury, dies.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 25
April 25:
- 1502 - Georg Major, German Protestant theologian, born. (d. 1574)
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 26
April 26:
- 1946 - Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 27
April 27:
- 1667 - The blind, impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 28
April 28:
- 1253 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 29
April 29:
- 1380 - Catherine of Siena, Italian saint, dies. (b. 1347)
- 1594 - Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and writer, dies.
Portal:Religion/On this day/April 30
April 30:
- 711 - Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).