1377 Cardinal Robert of Geneva (anti-pope Clemens VII) starts term

1518 Pope Leo X imposed silence on the Augustinian monks.

1653 Cardinal Mazarin returns to Paris from exile

1744 Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd explained in a tract: ‘God designs that those whom He sanctifies…shall tarry awhile in this present evil world, that their own experience of temptations may teach them how great the deliverance is, which God has wrought for them.’

1864 In Columbus, Ohio, a fellowship of independent Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational and United Brethren churches organized itself into a separate Protestant denomination known as the Christian Union.

1892 Russia closes down Yeshiva of Volozhin

1943 4 chaplains drown after giving up their life jackets to others. The Allied troopship S.S. Dorchester was torpedoed by a German sub and went down with a loss of 600 lives. As it sank, four chaplains gave up their lifejackets to shipmates, thereby also perishing in the icy waters. The bravery of Rev. Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rev. George Lansing Fox (Methodist), Father John Washington (a Catholic priest) and Alexander David Goode (a Jewish rabbi) led Congress afterward to mark February 3rd as “Four Chaplains Day.”

1969 “Canterbury Tales” opens at Eugene O’Neill Theater NYC for 122 performances

1985 In South Africa, Desmond Tutu, 53, became Johannesburg’s first black Anglican bishop.

Religious Observances

Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Blase, bishop of Sebaste, Armenia, martyr (opt)

Christian : Feast of St Laurentius, 2nd archbishop of Canterbury (604-619)

Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran : Memorial of Anskar, Hamburg archbishop, Denmark/Sweden

Saints, feasts and other days

Roman Catholic: St Ansgar, patron saint of Denmark, St Hadelin, St Werburgh, St Berlindis, St Margaret of England, St Nona and Saint Celsa, St Blaise.

Anglican: Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary in Denmark and Sweden, 865

Poverty & Homelessness Action Week

In History

619 - Death of Laurence of Canterbury, 2nd Archbishop of Canterbury

1518 - Pope Leo X imposes silence on Augustinian monks