January 6, 1850: Charles Spurgeon, who would become one of the greatest preachers of all time, converts to Christianity after receiving a vision, “not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a Savior Christ was,” he wrote, “I can never tell you how it was, but I no sooner saw Whom I was to believe than I also understood what it was to believe, and I did believe in one moment”.
January 6, 1884: Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel, founder of the science of genetics, dies.
In the early Church, Christians in the East celebrated the advent of Christ on January 6th by commemorating the visitation of the Magi, Baptism of Christ and the wedding at Cana in one feast of Epiphany. However, on January 6, 548, the Jerusalem church observed Christmas for the last time as the Western church moved to celebrating the birth of Jesus on December 25.
January 6, 1412 (traditional date): Joan of Arc, the French peasant mystic Christian who became a national heroine and her country’s patron saint, was born.
January 6, 1832: French artist Gustave Dore, known for his drawings and lithographs for the Bible, Dante’s Inferno, and other works, is born in Strasbourg, France.
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