Anniversaries

Births: James Watt, inventor of the modern condensing steam engine, 1736; Edgar Allan Poe, author and poet, 1809; Paul Cezanne, painter, 1839. Deaths: William Congreve, playwright, 1729; Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, journalist and socialist, 1865; Auguste-Ferdinand Francois Mariette, Egyptologist, 1881. On this day: King Edward III established the Order of the Garter, 1348; an explosion occurred at Woolwich Arsenal, the East London munitions factory, with 450 casualties, 1917; Indira Gandhi became prime minister of India, 1966. Today is the Feast Day of Saints Abachum and Audifax, St Albert of Cashel, St Canute IV of Denmark, St Charles of Sezze, St Fillan or Foelan, St Germanicus, St Henry of Uppsala, Saints Marius and Martha, St Messalina, St Nathalan and St Wulfstan.