1873
HT: Today in Christian History
Horatio Spafford’s four daughters drowned when the French steamer Ville du Havre sank in the Atlantic after colliding with another vessel. His wife, Anna, survived and sent a brief telegram from Wales that read, “Saved alone.” In the deep sorrow that followed, Spafford later wrote the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul,” a testimony to unwavering trust in God in the midst of profound loss.
1963
HT: Today in Christian History
C. S. Lewis, beloved author, Christian apologist, and scholar, died at age 64. Known for The Chronicles of Narnia and classic works such as Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce, Lewis shaped modern Christian thought through his clear defense of the faith and his powerful use of imagination.
A long-time academic at Oxford and later Cambridge, he was also a central member of the Inklings literary group with J. R. R. Tolkien. His death occurred on the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and author Aldous Huxley died. Although the news was overshadowed at the time, the influence of Lewis’s writings has only grown.