British navigator and explorer Captain James Cook was born on October 27, 1728. An associate of the infamous Captain Blyth, Cook was ultimately to come to a violent end in the Hawaiian Islands at hands of the natives there. Rough-ridin’ Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was born on this date in 1858, as was British poet Dylan Thomas in 1914. Also born on this date in 1466 was Erasmus, the Dutch humanist and philosopher who wrote “In Praise of Folly.”
By tradition, it is believed that Byzantine Emperor Constantine I received in a dream the explanation of a vision he had on this date while preparing for battle with his nemesis Maxentius. In an account by writer Eusebius, while marching with his army the emperor looked up at the sun and saw a cross of light above it with the Greek words “Ev Touto Nika”, which into Latin translated is “In hoc signo” – “In this sign, you shall conquer.” In a dream that night, Constantine received a locution commanding him to place that sign on the shields of his troops and thus go on to victory the next day. Known as the first Christian emperor, Constantine I is recognized as a saint by the Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churchs even while he is not commemorated as such by the Western Church. It was on this date in 1838 that Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri signed an “Extermination Order” that commanded all members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons) to leave the territory or face death. According to the order, this was due to "open and avowed defiance of the laws, and of having made war upon the people of this State ... the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description." The order was not formally rescinded until 1976.
The Christian Church honors today St. Frumentius. The saint was a native of Tyre who, along with his companion Aedesius, was captured when their ship stopped at Ethiopia. They were presented to the king at Aksum, whereupon Aedesius became the king’s cupbearer and Frumentius his secretary. They remained after the death of the king and introduced the Christian faith. Frumentius left Ethiopia and was ordained at Tyre. At Alexandria, he asked St. Athanasius to send missionaries to Ethiopia. Athanasius ordained Frumentius bishop of the Ethiopians and send him back. He was called “Abuna” (our father) by the Ethiopians, and the title of the primate of the Ethiopian Church remains Abuna to this day. Frumentius died in 380 AD.
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