John Wesley’s birthday?
July 08, 2019
JOHN WESLEY MOMENTS
DAVE HANSON
John Wesley was born on June 17,1703 (Old Style), in Epworth, England. His parents were Rev. Samuel and Susanna Wesley. Samuel was the pastor of St. Andrew Church on the “Isle of Axholme” which was formed by the rivers Trent, Don, and Idle. Most scholars agree that John was the sixteenth of 19 children born to Susanna. Samuel served as rector of St. Andrew Church for 39 years.
In recent years we have begun to celebrate John Wesley’s birth on June 28 (New Style). What is that all about?
You see, in mid 18th century England the calendar was changed. Ten days were dropped out of the calendar! This was to bring England into uniformity with most of the rest of the world who had made the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1582.
The Julian calendar was established in 45 A.D. by Julius Caesar, but on October 4, 1582, Pope Gregory had all Catholic nations correct their calendars by dropping out 10 days. So, when you went to bed on October 4, 1582, you woke up on October 15!
