Posted Dec. 28, 2007 MINNEAPOLIS 12:48am CT | LONDON 06:48am | SYDNEY 05:48pm

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - December 28, the 3rd day of Christmas in Western Christianity

Researched and written by Gloriscope staff

1987: The Vatican appointed Michel Sabbah, 52, as the first (Palestinian) Arab to the position of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

1952: Death of Cardinal Carlo Agostini, Roman Catholic Archbishop and Patriarch of Venice. – He was an Italian theologian and philosopher, born in 1888 and buried in the Cathedral of Venice.

1878: Pope Leo III criticized Socialism – He did so in his encyclical Quod apostolici muneris (”Our Apostolic Duty).

1663: Death of the Italian Jesuit astronomer, scientist, and theologian Francesco Maria Grimaldi. – He was born in Bologna in 1618. He mapped the surface of the Moon with his telescope and his map of the Moon contains names of Moon’s features which are still used today. The Grimaldi Crater on the Moon bears his name.

1622: Death of St. Francis de Sales, French Catholic preacher and Christian writer. – He was Bishop of Geneva, a gifted preacher (his sermons are published), and a writer on spiritual formation. His book “An Introduction to the Devout Life” is a classic on Christian living and practical Christian morality. He also wrote “Treatise on the Love of God.” The Roman Catholic Church recognized him as a Doctor of Universal Church and canonized him as a saint in 1665.

1065: Westminster Abbey in London was consecrated. – This Gothic church, which has been the traditional place for coronation and burial of English monarchs, was consecrated only a week before the death of King Edward the Confessor, an Anglo-Saxon king who was a devout Christian. He was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1161 and is a patron of kings.

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TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!

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