September 27

Pope Paul III issued the bull Regimini militantis Ecclesiae, giving first approval to the Society of Jesus founded by Ignatius of Loyola.

Vincent de Paul, the French priest who founded the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, died in Paris.

Champollion read his 'Lettre a M. Dacier' before the Academie des Inscriptions in Paris, laying out the hieroglyphic alphabet and founding the modern study of ancient Egypt.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy, founder of the Brahmo Sabha and a leading voice of nineteenth-century Hindu reform, died on this day in 1833 in Bristol.

Caroline Rhys Davids, the English scholar and Pali Text Society president who translated early Abhidhamma and Pali texts, was born in East Sussex.

Wilhelm Eilers, a German scholar of cuneiform and ancient Near Eastern languages, was born in Leipzig.

Fatema Mernissi, a Moroccan sociologist and writer on gender and Islamic history, was born on this day in 1940.

Mata Amritanandamayi, the spiritual teacher and humanitarian known to followers as Amma, was born on this day in 1953 in Kerala.

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, a Tibetan Dzogchen master and scholar of Tibetan culture, died at his center in Tuscany, Italy.