Today in 1570 Pope Pius V declared Queen Elizabeth I (pictured) deposed and excommunicate, in the Bull Regnans in Excelsis (‘reigning on high’). Although this kind of behaviour had been par for the course in the Middle Ages, times had changed. Most English Catholics ignored it, as did the Queen. The Pope finally realised he was not the ruler of a European superstate, and never tried to pull such a stunt again (so far).
Martin Luther King was ordained today in 1948 and appointed assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
This is St Ethelbert’s day, the Christian Anglo-Saxon King. In the year 604, he built the first cathedral, named after St Paul the apostle, in London. He also welcomed St Augustine’s mission from Rome, set him up in Canterbury, and got baptised, though without insisting his subjects follow.
Image: National Portrait Gallery/Wikimedia