Birth of Jeane Marie Bouvier. Raised a staunch Catholic, she was wed at 15 to Jacques Guyon, but her married life was almost unbearable, causing her to turn to intense, inward prayer. She was converted four years later, then her husband died (1676), leaving her with three children. Her religious experience was so intense she believed she had authority and insight beyond that of official church leaders. For her teaching and ministry she was arrested, imprisoned, and spent four long years in solitary confinement. But this only served to cement her relationship to the Lord, and upon her release she lived the quiet life of a victorious believer and was influential in the thought of Bishop Francois Fenelon.
Birth of Joseph Barber Lightfoot, English churchman and textual critic. Ordained in 1858, he was consecrated Bishop of Durham in 1879, filling that office until his death. Quiet and shy by nature, Lightfoot nevertheless wrote enduring critical works on the New Testament and early church fathers. In addition to several commentaries he worked with B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort to produce the first English revision of the King James version, released May 17, 1881, with some 36,000 revisions. His commentaries on Galatians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon, as well as Apostolic Fathers are still in print.
