Albertus Soegijapranata (1896–1963) was a Javanese cleric who became the first native Indonesian bishop upon being created as Archbishop of Semarang in 1940. Born to a Muslim family in Surakarta, Dutch East Indies, in 1910 he converted to Catholicism and was ordained in 1931. First serving as a pastor in Yogyakarta, Soegijapranata was consecrated as the vicar apostolic of the newly established Apostolic Vicariate of Semarang in 1940, moving to the city to take the position. During the Japanese occupation, Soegijapranata resisted attempts to seize Church property, including his vicariate's cathedral, and protected the area's Catholics. During the ensuing national revolution (1945–49) he promoted a nationalist cause, moving his seat to Yogyakarta to support the new government and working to promote international recognition of Indonesia's independence. During the post-revolution years he wrote extensively against communism and worked towards a self-determined Indonesian Roman Catholic hierarchy. He was made an archbishop in 1961, dying two years later in the Netherlands. Soegijapranata is now considered a National Hero of Indonesia and in 2011 a biopic on him was released.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Soegijapranata

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1209:

The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade took place as a crusader army captured Béziers in southern France and slaughtered the inhabitants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers

1894:

Despite finishing in first place in the world's first auto race, Jules-Albert de Dion did not win, as his steam-powered car was against the rules. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules-Albert_de_Dion

1933:

Wiley Post became the first pilot to fly solo around the world, landing after a seven-day, nineteen-hour flight at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_Post

1993:

During the Great Flood of 1993 (flooding pictured), levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois, US, ruptured, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1993

2002:

Following a trial that captivated Brazil, a court in São Paulo sentenced Suzane von Richthofen to 39½ years in prison for the murders of her parents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzane_von_Richthofen

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

roundelay: (music) A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular intervals. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundelay

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

He was talking about the things that make a country a country, and a man a man. And he began with the simple things that everybody's known and felt — the freshness of a fine morning when you're young, and the taste of food when you're hungry, and the new day that's every day when you're a child. He took them up and he turned them in his hands. They were good things for any man. But without freedom, they sickened.   --Stephen Vincent Benét https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Vincent_Ben%C3%A9t