Tyndale has had a good run of it this year. Most people who are likely to be interested must have noticed than an anniversary has happened, even if it was only the birthdate that was being kept rather than the more Christian practice of honouring the death or birthdate of the further life. And it's as a result of the success of the widespread commemoration that this periodical has come into existence. And yet we might all so easily have missed it. As, for example, you might have missed other anniversaries this year, such as Macarius of Alexandria, known as the Younger, who died in 394; Paulinus of York in 644; King Ethelbert of the East Angles in 794; and just a thousand years later the Sisters of Charity of Arras; none of which may bear heavily on Tyndalians. But the death of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola on 17 November 1494 in the arms of Savonarola, at the age of thirty-one, deserves some recognition, if only for the influence he had on the English Renaissance. It would be a good thing if someone were to contribute an article to detail that influence for us.
As I have said, commemorations are easily missed. I don't recall noticing the hundredth anniversary of Spurgeon in 1992, or the thousandth of Oswald of Worcester in the same year; and I don't feel we did, or at least I did, appropriate honour to Wiclif on his 600th anniversary in 1984, and the 610th on the last day of Tyndale's year may well serve to show how well he has been eclipsed by our enthusiasms. It's odd, our attention to round figures, but the consequences are even odder. If, for example, you missed Pico's 500th in November, you'll just have to wait another 500 years before you can make amends.
It does seem to be a bit hit and miss, and depends on somebody or some group making a fuss that's loud and public enough for us to notice. I'm sure we are all grateful for the efforts of Sir Edward Pickering and David Daniell in making us take notice, not just so we could pay our personal and national respects in passing, but because the occasion has been one of a great deal of spiritual discovery and energising, and has been the means of bringing many good friends together.
So, for your diary for 1995: 23 April the poet Henry Vaughan who died in 1695; 19th January is the feast day of Wulstan of Worcester, d. 1095, the same year as King Ladislas I of Hungary (feast day 27 June): the two Saints Hewald, Northumbrian missionaries and martyrs in 695, share a feast day on 3 October; St Philip Neri died in 1595 (feast day 26 May)*. I myself will be observing the 500th anniversary of Crivelli's death with a booklength poem. No doubt there are other dates we should note. Tell us.
*It's 1000 years since the start of the Crusades.