Gaspard de Coligny (1519 to 1572)
Huguenot
First Victim on St. Bartholomew's Day
Birth of Gaspard de Coligny, a French general. He was captured in a battle with the Spanish, was imprisioned, and was (apparently) converted at this time (at age 38) through the influence of a godly brother. He became the hero of the French Protestants during the great conflict with the Catholic powers of the 1560s. As chief of the Huguenot forces, he fought through three wars for freedom of religion. At the massacre of St. Batholemew's Day, August 24, 1572, of the thousands killed for their Huguenot faith, he had the misfortune to be singled out as the first to die.
