Historical Events in Church Annals for June 14:

• 637 A.D.
• Death of Saint Carthage, also known as Carthage and Mochuda, this Irish saint actually took his name from Saint Carthage the Elder who ordained him. He became a hermit, and founded a monastery in Offaly with the help of Saint Comgall. He ruled over 800 monks as abbot, but he was driven from the monaster by the local ruler and finished his life as a hermit in a nearby cave.

• 964 A.D.
• Death of Pope John XII. In one of the more embarassing times of the papacy, this pontiff is said to have had a stroke while bedding his mistress, a married woman. A week later he was dead. It was this pope who reconstituted the Holy Roman Empire, crown Otto I of Germany who later would depose John XII.

• 1004 A.D.
• Henry II is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Sylvester II who had ushered in the Second Millennium for the Church as the 139th successor of Peter.

• 1265 A.D.
• Death of Saint Giles of Portugal, who had dabbled in the black arts early in life but was converted and became first a physician and then a Dominican. Because of his past ties to the satanic sciences, he was constantly tormented by the devil until Our Lady appeared to him, setting him at peace. He went on to become prior general of the Dominicans in Portugal and retired to Santarem where he received many prophecies and experienced mystical ecstacies.

• 1494 A.D.
• Christopher Columbus discovers the island of Jamaica on one of his return trips, proclaiming it for Spain and Holy Mother Church.

Historical Events in Church Annals for June 15:

• 884 A.D.
• Death of Pope Marinus I, 108th successor of Peter. There was strong suspicion he was poisoned after trying to solve quarrels between the feuding Italians.

• 1130 A.D.
• Death of Saint Isidore, Patron Saint of Farmers. He died in Madrid, Spain, the same city where he was born and lived. Though he was extremely poor, he shared all he could with all. His wife is also a saint - Saint Maria de la Cabeza. He was known for having performed numerous miracles.

• 1213 A.D.
• King John of England submits to Pope Innocent III. The supreme pontiff had earlier excommunicated him, but lifted that when John agreed to amend his ways as a person and monarch.

• 1508 A.D.
• Pope Julius II leads the Papal States army, aligned with France, Spain and Germany and soundly defeated the City of Venice which he had excommunicated on April 27th of the same year.

• 1559 A.D.
• Tough, uncompromising Pope Paul IV summonded the bishops of England to take an oath to the supremacy of Rome, but the English monarch stalled the efforts.

• 1572 A.D.
• Cardinal Ugo Boncompagni becomes the 226th successor of Peter and takes the name Pope Gregory XIII following in the footsteps of Pope Saint Pius V. From this pontiff we get the Gregorian Calendar which he revised.

• 1751 A.D.
• Pope Benedict XIV issues his eighth encyclical A quo primum, aimed at the bishops of Poland on thae subject of Christians and Jews living in the same land cohesively. This edict would come into play less than two centuries later when many Polish Catholics would harbor Jews from the Nazis and many, who were caught, would be sent to the gas chambers of the Nazi Death Camps including the Polish priest Saint Maximilian Kolbe.

June 14-15, 2000
volume 11, no. 108
MILLENNIUM MILESTONES

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