Peter Martyr Vermigli (8 September 1499 – 12 November 1562) was an Italian-born Reformed theologian. His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced many other Italians to convert and flee as well. English reformer Thomas Cranmer invited him to leave a teaching position at Strasbourg in Alsace to take an influential post at the University of Oxford, where he defended his Eucharistic beliefs against Catholic proponents of transubstantiation in a public disputation. He influenced the Edwardian Reformation, including the Eucharistic service of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. Forced to leave England on the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary I, he eventually settled in Reformed Zürich, where he taught until his death. He was considered an authority on the Eucharist among the Reformed churches, and engaged in controversies on the subject by writing treatises. His Loci Communes, a compilation of excerpts from his biblical commentaries organized by the topics of systematic theology, became a standard Reformed theological textbook. ( Full article...)

Trump and Macron shaking hands

• ... that Donald Trump's handshake (pictured) with Emmanuel Macron at the Bastille Day celebrations was 29 seconds long?
• ... that the Kingdom of Bosnia allowed the Ottoman Turks to penetrate deep into their territory before inflicting a heavy defeat on them at the 1388 Battle of Bileća?
• ... that the mirror suggested by Elsie de Wolfe and added by James Amster to make his Amster Yard look bigger is still in place today?
• ... that Fantasia's single " Sleeping with the One I Love" was described as "five minutes of slow-burning flame"?
• ... that Adele Schulenburg Gleeson, an American sculptor active in Missouri and Connecticut, studied sculpture under George Julian Zolnay and Charles Grafly?
• ... that Wolfgang Fortner composed the chamber opera In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa after Lorca for the Schlosstheater Schwetzingen, where it opened the Festival in 1962?
• ... that Wilfrid Oulton was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for sinking three U-boats in one month?
• ... that Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack wrote a book based on an index card?

Hurricane Irma

• Hurricane Irma (satellite image pictured) crosses the Leeward Islands as the strongest-ever recorded hurricane to make landfall in the Caribbean, killing at least ten people.
• Monsoon flooding kills nearly 1,300 people and affects 45 million others in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
• North Korea conducts its sixth nuclear test.
• The European X-ray free-electron laser is inaugurated in Hamburg, Germany.
• The Supreme Court of Kenya rules that the country's presidential election was conducted improperly, nullifying its results and ordering a new election within 60 days.
• In boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats Conor McGregor.

September 8

Margaret Gorman

• 617 – Li Yuan defeated a Sui dynasty army in the Battle of Huoyi, opening the path to his capture of the imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty.
• 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: The French defeated Austrian forces in Bassano, Venetia, present-day Italy.
• 1921 – In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Margaret Gorman (pictured) was crowned the "Golden Mermaid", the forerunner to the Miss America pageant.
• 1954 – Eight nations signed an agreement to create the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, a Southeast Asian version of NATO.
• 1966 – The American science fiction show Star Trek premiered with The Man Trap, launching a media franchise that has since created a cult phenomenon and has influenced the design of many current technologies.

Amy Robsart (d. 1560) · Sabrina Sidney (d. 1843) · Margaret Hodge (b. 1944)