Today in 1794 (or 18 Floréal, Year III, as it was then known), the French Revolutionary regime announced that there was a God after all. The previous November they had celebrated the atheistic Festival of Reason by turning churches into Temples of Reason, and raising an altar of Liberty in Notre Dame, Paris. But now, in the middle of the Reign of Terror, when the guillotine was exceptionally busy, Maximilien Robespierre instituted the Cult of the Supreme Being (seen above in a print of the time), as he hated atheism and believed God was good for social order.
John Wesley was setting out to preach at Pensford church today in 1739 when he received a note: ‘Sir, our minister, having been informed you are beside yourself, does not care that you should preach in any of his churches.’ Wesley was not discouraged: ‘I went, however; and on Priestdown, about half a mile from Pensford, preached Christ our “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption”.’
Just before noon today in the year 558, an earthquake devastated Hagia Sophia, the Great Church of Constantinople. The immense church was still quite new, and had been built in just six years, with a vast, shallow dome that amazed everyone who saw it. The dome was being repaired from an earthquake of the previous year, when it came crashing down, destroying the altar. The church was repaired in four years, with a higher, less beautiful dome, and four gigantic buttresses, which have successfully resisted earthquake, siege and fire ever since.
‘Now the wondrous curve of the half-sphere, although resting on powerful foundations, collapsed and threw down the entire precinct of the sacred house. The curve of the eastern arch slipped off and a portion of the dome was mingled with the dust. Part of it lay on the floor, and part – a wonder to behold – hung in mid-air as if unsupported.’ Paul the Silentiary, 563
Today in 1833 and 1840, Brahms and Tchaikovsky were born, in Hamburg, Germany, and Votkinsk, Russia. Young Johannes first learned to play violin and cello, while the infant Pyotr started off with piano and barrel organ.
The German Lutheran pastor and astronomer David Fabricius died today in 1617. He and his son discovered that the Sun rotates on its axis, after several months of tracking sunspots as they disappeared off one side of the Sun and reappeared on the other side a few days later. Fabricius died shortly after he stood in his pulpit and accused a local man of stealing a goose. The man responded by hitting Fabricius on the head with a shovel, fatally, as it proved.
It is the feast of St Agostino Roscelli, who died today in 1902. As a parish priest, he dedicated his life to working with young people from poor neighbourhoods who were falling into crime and prostitution. He established programmes which helped them develop skills and gave them meaningful work. He was made a saint in 2001.