On this day in October
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 1
- 965 – John XIII becomes Pope.
- 1189 – Gerard de Ridefort, grandmaster of the Templars since 1184, is killed in the Siege of Acre.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 2
- 1187 - Siege of Jerusalem: Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 3
- 1804 - Allan Kardec, French founder of Spiritism, born. (d. 1869)
- 1806 - Oliver Cowdery, American religious leader, born. (d. 1850)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 4
- 1537 - The first complete English-language Bible (the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
- 1582 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 5
- 1793 - French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 6
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 7
- 3761 BC - The epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew calendar.
- 336 - Pope Mark ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
- 1506 - Pope Julius II and France occupy Bologna.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 8
- 1713 - Yechezkel Landau, Polish rabbi and Talmudist, born. (d. 1793)
- 1715 - Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary, born. (d. 1774)
- 1720 - Jonathan Mayhew, American minister and patriot, born. (d. 1766)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 9
- 1871 - Georges Gauthier, Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal and rector of the University of Montreal, born. (d. 1940)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 10
- 680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Shi'a Muslims as Aashurah.
- 732 - Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, leader of the Franks, Charles Martel and his men, defeat a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, is killed during the battle.
- 1575 - Battle of Dormans: Roman Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeated the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 11
- 1821 - George Williams, English founder of the YMCA, born. (d. 1905)
- 1871 - Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian Christian leader and founder of Smith's Friends, born. (d.1943)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 12
- 1875 - Aleister Crowley, English occultist and author, born. (d. 1947)
- 1891 - Edith Stein, Carmelite Catholic nun and martyr, born. (d. 1942)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 13
- 1282 - Nichiren Daishonin, founder of the Nichiren School of Buddhism, dies. His ashes are interred at Taisekiji Temple.
- 1307 - Hundreds of Knights Templar in France are simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair, to be later tortured into "admitting" heresy.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 14
- 530 - Antipope Dioscorus ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
- 1656 - Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The marriage of church-and-state in Puritanism makes them regard the ritual-free Quakers as spiritually apostate and politically subversive.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 15
- 1582 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
- 1764 - Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 16
- 1555 - Hugh Latimer, English Protestant, dies. (martyred)
- 1555 - Nicholas Ridley, English Protestant, dies. (martyred)
- 1591 - Pope Gregory XIV dies. (b. 1535)
- 1594 - William Allen, English Catholic cardinal, dies. (b. 1532)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 17
- 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and making the first Human Rights Declaration.
- 1244 - Battle of La Forbie: Crusaders are defeated by Khwarezmians and Egyptians.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 18
- 1009 - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
- 1210 - Pope Innocent III excommunicates German leader Otto IV.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 19
- 1512 - Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 20
- 1781 - Patent of Tolerance, providing limited freedom of worship, was approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 21
- 686 - Conon becomes Pope.
- 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 22
- 4004 BCE - The day the universe was created according to British Archbishop James Ussher after using the Bible's chronology to calculate the date.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 23
- 4004 BC - On the preceding eve of this day (in the proleptic Julian calendar), the universe was created, according to the archbishop James Ussher in what is now called the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.
- 502 - The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 24
- 1260 - The spectacular Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 25
- 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a four-month siege.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 26
- 1751 - Philip Doddridge, English religious leader, dies. (b. 1702)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 27
- 625 - Honorius I becomes Pope.
- 1553 - Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 28
- 1510 - Francis Borgia, Spanish duke and Jesuit priest, born. (d. 1572)
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 29
- 1061 - Emperor disposes of Bishop Cadalus & Pope Honorius II.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 30
- 1270 - The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis end by an agreement between Charles I of Sicily (brother to King Louis IX of France, who had died months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.
Portal:Religion/On this day/October 31
- 445 BC - Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 9:1, NLTse).
- 1517 - Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.