February 3

© 1997, 1998, 2000 by Paul A. Schons

February 3, 865

Death of St. Ansgar. St. Ansgar was born on September 8, 801 in Corbie (in modern France). In 823 he became a teacher in the newly founded monastery in Corvey in Westphalia (modern Germany). In 829 he founded the first Christian church in Sweden. He returned to Germany in 831 and became the first bishop of Hamburg. He continued his work of christianization in Denmark and Sweden, but after attacks by the Vikings not only was Christianity halted in those lands, but Hamburg itself was destroyed (845). He was then made the first bishop of Bremen. From there he continued his efforts to bring Christianity to the Scandinavian countries. He died in 865 in Bremen. Through his efforts he is known as the Apostle of the North. He was canonized by Pope Nicholas I. He is the patron saint of Denmark. February 3 is the feast day of St. Ansgar.

February 3, 1468

Death of Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz. It was Gutenberg who invented printing in the Western World. The first printed bibles came from the press in the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg.

February 3, 1721

Birth of Friedrich Freiherr von Seydlitz in Kalkar, Germany. Von Seydlitz was the commander who built the Prussian cavalry of Friedrich II into the best in Europe.

February 3, 1736

Birth of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger in Klosterneuburg, Austria. An organist and composer, Albrechtsberger was appointed court organist in Vienna in 1792 and music director at St. Stephan's Cathedral in Vienna in 1793. His most noted student was Ludwig van Beethoven.

February 3, 1786

Birth of Wilhelm Gesenius in Nordhausen, Germany. Gesenius was a professor of theology at the University of Halle. As a theologian he was not remarkable, but he made major contribution to the study of Semitic languages, publishing several grammars and dictionaries.

February 3, 1809

Birth of Jacob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn in Hamburg, Germany. The composer, Mendelssohn, is one of the outstanding figures in the history of music. Mendelssohn was born to a Jewish family in Hamburg, but was baptized a Lutheran. The name, Bartholdy, was taken from a wealthy uncle and attached to the Mendelssohn name at the time the uncle's properties passed to the family. A child prodigy, Mendelssohn gave his first public concert at age 9 in Berlin. He wrote one of his masterpieces, the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream at age 17. In 1843 Mendelssohn founded a conservatory of music in Leipzig where he and his friend Robert Schumann taught composition.

February 3, 1859

Birth of Hugo Junkers in Rheydt, Germany. Junkers founded an aircraft factory in Dessau in 1910. His J-1 Blechesel of 1915 was the world's first functional all-metal airplane. The Junkers company supplied Germany in World War II with the Ju 52 troop transport and the Ju 87 Stuka (a shortened form of Sturzkampfflugzeug). Junkers died on his birthday in 1935.

February 3, 1887

Birth of Georg Trakl in Salzburg, Austria. Trakl was an Expressionist poet, troubled with addiction to drugs. His poetry is characterized by topics of decline and death. The titles of a few of his poems are Verfall, Ein Winterabend, Verklfärter Herbst, Trübsinn and Grodek. Trakl died in 1914 of an overdose of cocaine.

February 3, 1890

Birth of Paul Scherrer in Sankt Gallen, Switzerland. A physicist, Scherrer worked with Peter Debbie on X-ray diffraction analysis. The Debbie-Scherrer method is important in identifying materials which do not easily form large crystals. Scherrer was professor of physics at the University of Zürich.

February 3, 1917

The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany in reaction to German resumption of unlimited submarine warfare. (President Wilson had just been reelected with the campaign slogan, "He kept us out of war!")