April 19

Today in 1506 in Lisbon, a group of churchgoers, recently awed by an apparent miracle, became a genocidal mob. They turned on Jews who were recently forcibly converted to Christianity and massacred them for three days. The Lisbon Massacre, as this “pogrom,” or outburst of antisemitism is known, was neither the first nor the last episode of antisemitic mob violence in Europe. 

Today in 1943, Albert Hoffman took LSD on purpose for the first time after he had accidentally sampled it a few days earlier. This event is known as “Bicycle Day” in psychedelic culture, because of his account of his bicycle ride home in an altered state of consciousness. 

Today marks the death, in 1560, of Philip Melanchthon, an early theologian of the Protestant Reformation. He was a major contributor to the Augsburg Confession, which laid out the Luthern statement of faith. 

Today is also the birthday, in 1872, of Alice Salomon, a pioneer in the field of social work and studies of both poverty and justice. She wrote her dissertation on gender pay inequality, an issue that is still with us today. She believed that education could be a force for critical thinking, character formation, and citizenship, and started several educational organizations. She was exiled by the Nazis to the United States for both her Jewish heritage and her social work.

Reflection: 

When writing to friends of her exile, Salomon said: 

Prayer: God who is beyond all religion and most present in the life of our neighbor, help the world to move toward peace with justice. Eliminate all violence done in your name. Amen.