When told by Roman officials to surrender the church’s valuables, St. Lawrence brought the city’s poor and sick. “Here is the church’s treasure,” he said. Rome didn’t find this amusing, and legend says he was put to death in A.D. 258 by being roasted on a grate, although some scholars say he was more likely beheaded. In either case, folks in southern Europe still mark this day. It is customary there to eat only cold meat in recognition of the reputed manner of his death. Fair weather on St. Lawrence’s Day presages a fair autumn.
Daily Calendar for Sunday, August 10, 2025
Born
- James Wilson Morrice (artist) –
- Herbert Hoover (31st U.S. president) –
- Wolfgang Paul (physicist) –
- Jimmy Dean (actor, singer, & businessman) –
- Bobby Hatfield (one of the Righteous Brothers) –
- Betsy Johnson (designer) –
- Ian Anderson (musician) –
- Rosanna Arquette (actress) –
- Antonio Banderas (actor) –
- Angie Harmon (actress) –
- Sophia Smith (soccer player) –
Died
- Otto Lilienthal (German aviator whose work made a significant contribution to the success of the Wright Brothers) –
- Robert Goddard (rocket scientist) –
- Isaac Hayes (singer & songwriter) –
Events
- Missouri, the second state to be created from the Louisiana Purchase, was admitted to the Union as the 24th state –
- The Smithsonian Institution was established at the bequest of James Smithson; the reason for the bequest remains unknown –
- Alexander Graham Bell received the first long-distance phone call in Brantford, Ontario, from his father who was 8 miles away in Paris, Ontario –
- The Canadian Bill of Rights was enacted –
- President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 –
- Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the 107th justice of the US Supreme Court –
- First Earth/Space wedding. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), married Ekaterina Dmitriev, on Earth –
- For the first time in Canada, a court ordered a man to give his ex-wife monthly support payments for their dog. The man was told to pay $200 a month in alimony towards the upkeep of the couples’ St. Bernard –
Weather
- A tornado hit Coney Island, New York, causing extensive damage –
- Frost was reported in Iowa and Chicago –
- 101.3 degrees F in Kent, England –
- -136 degrees F (-93.2 degrees C) recorded at the East Antarctic Plateau in Antarctica, making it the coldest temperature on Earth on record at the time –
