A Brief History On February 15, 1113, the reigning Pope of the Catholic Church, Pope Paschal II, issued a Papal Bull titled “Pie Postulatio Voluntatis,” recognizing the Order of Hospitallers, a military order of Catholic knights that had existed in the Holy Land since about 1099. The order had begun in Jerusalem during the 11th Century in service of an Amalfitan (established by people from the Italian city-state of Amalfi) hospital that was founded in Jerusalem to see to the medical needs of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, part of the Christian Crusades. Known more formally as The Order…
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A Brief History On February 14, 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister and then a multi-billionaire Rafic Hariri was blown up while driving in his motorcade in Beirut by a suicide car bomb. Born in Sidon, Lebanon in 1944, Hariri worked as a teacher and in the construction business in Saudi Arabia where he made his fortune, He returned to his war torn homeland where he was a force for peace, only to be assassinated by Hezbollah terrorists a year after he left office. Digging Deeper As a young adult, Hariri went to Saudi Arabia to seek work in 1965, soon…
A Brief History On February 12, 1993, a pair of deranged 10 year old English boys kidnapped and murdered 2 year old James Bulger from a shopping center in Bootle, Merseyside, England. Before 1993 was over, the two murderous kidnappers had already been convicted of kidnapping, torturing and murdering the poor toddler, making the deadly duo the youngest persons convicted of murder in modern British history. Digging Deeper Video surveillance from New Strand Shopping Centre later showed police the 2 perpetrators looking over potential targets until they spotted the young boy that would be their prey, little James Bulger. James…
A Brief History On February 11, 1823, a tragedy occurred at the Carnival celebration mass at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, in what was then the British Crown Colony of Malta. Also referred to as the Carnival Tragedy of 1823, 110 boys were crushed to death in a rush to leave the church after celebrating a Carnival related bread ceremony. Previously we have discussed disasters and tragedies related to religious events or gatherings, and today we take a look back on the sad events on Malta in 1823. Digging Deeper The Island of Malta is an independent…
A Brief History On February 10, 1967, the United States adopted the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, a new national law that deals with the succession to the Presidency of the United States, and a topic of recent debate during the Trump Administration. Starting with the 23rd Amendment adopted in June of 1960, there have been a total of 5 new Amendments adopted during this author’s lifetime, and one Amendment that is glaringly absent by its lack of ratification by the States Digging Deeper The United States Constitution was adopted in 1789, a magnificent historical document that created a nation…