Friday, February 15, 2013

February 15 in history


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FEB 14      INDEX      FEB 16
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Events


590 – Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia.

706 – Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberios III publicly executed in the Hippodrome of Constantinople.

1113 – Pope Paschal II issues a bill sanctioning the establishment of the Order of Hospitallers.

1214 – John, King of England, lands an invasion force at La Rochelle in France.

1493 – While on board the Niña, Christopher Columbus writes an open letter (widely distributed upon his return to Portugal) describing his discoveries and the unexpected items he came across in the New World.

1637 – Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.

1690 – Constantin Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia, and the Holy Roman Empire sign a secret treaty in Sibiu, stipulating that Moldavia would support the actions led by the House of Habsburg against the Ottoman Empire.

1764 – The city of St. Louis is established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri, USA).

1798 – The Roman Republic is proclaimed after Louis-Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Rome five days earlier.

1804 – The Serbian Revolution begins.

1835 – The first constitutional law in modern Serbia is adopted.

1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.

1870 – Stevens Institute of Technology is founded in New Jersey, USA and offers the first Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering.

1879 – Women's rights: U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

1891 – Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) (Swedish Sports Club) is founded.

1898 – The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing 274. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.

1901 – The association football club Alianza Lima is founded in Lima, Peru, under the name Sport Alianza.

1903 – Morris & Rose Michtom introduce America to the first Teddy Bear.

1909 – The Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico kills 250.

1921 – Kingdom of Romania establishes its legation in Helsinki.

1923 – Greece becomes the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar.

1925 – The 1925 serum run to Nome: The second delivery of serum arrives in Nome, Alaska.

1933 – President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escapes an assassination attempt in Miami that mortally wounds Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds on March 6, 1933.  Gunman Giuseppe Zangara was executed on March 20, 1933.

1942 – World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.

1944 – World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.

1944 – World War II: The Narva Offensive begins.

1945 – World War II: Third day of bombing in Dresden.

1946 – ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

1949 – Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux begin excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they will eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls.

1952 – King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

1953 – Parliamentary elections held in Liechtenstein.

1954 – Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.

1961 – Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members.

1965 – A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1971 – The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.

1972 – Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.

1989:  The Soviet Union announced the last of its troops left Afghanistan.

1972 – José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.

1976 – The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by national referendum.

1979 – Don Dunstan resigns as Premier of South Australia, ending a decade of sweeping social liberalisation.

1982 – The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 workers.

1989 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.

1991 – The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

1992 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison.

1996 – At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.

1999 – Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), is arrested in Kenya.

2000 – Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York vents a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator fails.

2001 – The first draft of the complete human genome is published in Nature.

2003 – Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between eight million to 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history.

2013 – A meteor streaks across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains. The fireball explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happens unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14.

2014 – Renaud Lavillenie of France breaks Sergey Bubka's world record in pole vault with a mark of 6.16 m.



Saints' Days and Holy Days

Traditional Western

Faustinus and Jovita, Martyrs


Contemporary Western

Blessed Michał Sopoćko
Claude de la Colombière
Faustinus and Jovita
Quinidius
Sigfrid of Sweden
Vartan


Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran

Thomas Bray (Episcopal Church)


Eastern Orthodox

February 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Saints

Apostle Onesimus of the Seventy (c. 109)
Martyr Major of Gaza (302)
Venerable Paphnutius, monk, and his daughter St. Euphrosyne, nun,
      of Alexandria (5th c.)
Venerable Eusebius, hermit, of Asikha in Syria (5th c.)
Saint Theognius, Bishop of Bethelia near Gaza (523)

Pre-Schism Western Saints

Saints Faustinus and Jovita, two brothers, belonging to the nobility of Brescia
      in Italy, zealous preachers of Orthodoxy, beheaded in their native city under
      Hadrian (2nd c.)
Virgin-martyr Agape, in Terni (Teramo) in Italy (c. 273)
Martyr Craton and Companions, converted to Christ by St Valentine, Bishop
      of Terni, martyred in Rome together with his wife and family (c. 273)
Martyrs Saturninus, Castulus, Magnus and Lucius, who belonged to the flock
      of St Valentine, Bishop of Terni in Italy (273)
Saint Dochow (Dochau, Dogwyn), founder of a monastery in Cornwall (c. 473)
Saint Georgia, a holy virgin and later anchoress near Clermont in Auvergne
      in France (c. 500)
Saint Severus, a priest from the Abruzzi in Italy (c. 530)
Saint Quinidius, after living as a hermit in Aix in Provence, he became Bishop
      of Vaison in France (c. 579)
Saint Farannan, a disciple of St Columba at Iona in Scotland (c. 590)
Saint Berach (Barachias, Berachius), disciple of St Kevin and founder
      of a monastery at Clusin-Coirpte in Connaught (6th c.)
Saint Faustus, a disciple of St Benedict at Montecassino in Italy (6th c.)
Saint Oswy, King of Northumbria (670)
Saint Decorosus, for thirty years Bishop of Capua in Italy, Confessor (695)
Saint Walfrid (Gualfredo) della Gherardesca (765)
Saints Winaman, Unaman and Sunaman, monks and nephews of St Sigfrid
      whom they followed to Sweden, martyred by pagans (c. 1040)
Saint Sigfrid of Sweden, a priest and monk, probably at Glastonbury in England,
      who went to enlighten Sweden, based in Växjö, and converted King Olaf
      of Sweden (1045)
Saint Druthmar, a monk at Lorsch: in 1014 he became Abbot of Corvey
      in Saxony in Germany (1046)

Post-Schism Orthodox Saints

Saint Paphnutius, recluse of the Kiev Caves Monastery (13th c.)
Venerable Dalmatius of Siberia, Abbot and founder of the Dormition
      Monastery (1697)
New martyr John of Thessaloniki (1776)[20]
Venerable Anthimos (Vagianos) of Chios (1960)

New Martyrs and Confessors

New Hieromartyrs Michael Pyatayev and John Kuminov, Priests of Omsk (1930)[
New Hieromartyr Paul (Kozlov), Hieromonk of St. Nilus Hermitage, Tver (1938)
New Hieromartyrs Nicholas Morkovin, Alexis, and Alexis, Priests;
      and Simeon, Deacon (1938)
Virgin-martyr Sophia (1938)

Other commemorations

Synaxis of the Church of St. John the Theologian at Diaconissa
Synaxis of the Icon of the Mother of God of Vilnius
Synaxis of Icon of the Mother of God of Dalmatia
Repose of Blessed Stoina (Euphemia) of Devic Monastery (Serbia) (1895)
Repose of Schemamonk Nikodim of Karoulia (1984)
Repose of Monk Marcu (Dumitrescu) of Sihastria (Romania) (1999)



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