“On this day, Great Lent begins in the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church; it always falls on the 7th Monday before Orthodox Easter. Also called Clean Monday or Pure Monday, this religious observance is a day of fasting and spiritual purification and reflection, similar to Ash Wednesday of the Western Church.
The first week of Great Lent is also called Pure Week. Great Lent lasts for 40 days and ends on Lazarus Saturday, the day before Orthodox Palm Sunday. The next week is Holy Week, and ends on Easter, the day of Christ’s resurrection.”
Born
George Frederic Watts(artist)–
W.E.B. Du Bois(founder of the Niagara Movement, which eventually merged with the NAACP)–
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry(actress and producer)–
Patricia Richardson(actress)–
Josh Gad(actor)–
Dakota Fanning(actress)–
Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary(daughter of Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria; first royal birth in 30 years)–
Died
John Quincy Adams(6th U.S. president)–
Melvin Franklin(Motown singer)–
Gordon Matthews(inventor of voicemail)–
Charlie Fox(1971 manager of the year with the San Francisco Giants and spent a half-century in baseball as an executive, manager, coach, and scout)–
Don Cornell(big band singer)–
Events
Cato Street Conspiracy foiled –
The siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas –
Liberty Bell developed its final irreparable crack after tolling for Washington’s birthday celebration –
Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield –
First powered flight in Canada (by John Alexander Douglas McCurdy in Silver Dart) took place in Baddeck, Nova Scotia –
USS Osmond Ingram, first U.S. naval vessel named for an enlisted man, was launched
–
Federal Radio Commission established –
U.S. rocket mail flight across Greenwood Lake, New York, to New Jersey –
Song As Time Goes By, from movie Casablanca, copyrighted –
The most memorable WW II photo was taken by Joe Rosenthal of members of the 5th Division of the U.S. Marines planting an American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan –
The existence of Dolly the sheep, the first successful cloned mammal, was announced –
Chloe Hegland kept soccer ball aloft with 163 touches in 30 seconds –
Weather
Blizzard stranded 750 motorists in the Sierra Nevada region of California –
