Daily Calendar – October 16

The 289th day of the year; 76 days remain until the New Year.

Church Calendar

Commemoration of the Hieromartyrs: Dionysius the Areopagite — the first Bishop of Athens, the priest Rusticus, and the deacon Eleutherius (96); the Venerable John of Choziba — Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (6th century); and the blessed Hesychius of Choreb (6th century).

The Holy Hieromartyrs — Dionysius the Areopagite (Bishop of Athens), the priest Rusticus, and the deacon Eleutherius — were put to death for the Christian faith in the city of Lutetia (in Gaul) during the persecution of Christians initiated by Emperor Domitian.

The Venerable John of Choziba, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, became renowned as a steadfast fighter against the Eutychian heresy, and was also gifted by God with the grace of foresight and the power to perform miracles. He was born in the city of Bibah, Egypt, and from his early youth until the end of his life, he lived as an ascetic in the Thebaid desert. Blessed Hesychius the Hesychast lived in the 6th century in one of the monasteries on Mount Athos.

Born:

1854 – Oscar Wilde, English writer, poet, and playwright; died in 1900.

1896 – Tamar Chavchavadze, a prominent actress; died in 1968.

1927 – Günter Grass, German writer and Nobel Prize laureate.

Died:

1774 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet; born in 1750.

1793 – Marie Antoinette, Queen of France; born in 1755.

1959 – George Marshall, American general; in 1947, he proposed a program for the economic recovery of post-war Europe—the "Marshall Plan"—for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

1976 – Alio Mirtskhulava, poet; born in 1903.

1981 – Revaz Laghidze, Georgian composer.

Events:

1757 — Austrian troops occupied Berlin.

1813 — The Battle of Leipzig, known as the "Battle of the Nations," began.

1829 — The first luxury hotel opened in America.

1847 — Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre was published for the first time.

1916 — Allied troops took Athens.

1916 — Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in New York.

1923 — Brothers Walt and Roy Disney signed their first contract for the production of animated films.

1923 — John Harwood patented an electric watch.

1964 — China tested a nuclear weapon.

1978 — Karol Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Kraków, was elected head of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name John Paul II. He was the first non-Italian to be elected Pope since 1542.

Commemorative Days:

World Food Day.