December 31

Samson Raphael Hirsch, a leading nineteenth-century Jewish thinker in Germany, died in Frankfurt am Main.

John Wycliffe, the English theologian who promoted vernacular Scripture, died at Lutterworth after a stroke suffered days earlier.

Swami Vishnudevananda, disciple of Sivananda and founder of the international Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, was born in Kerala.

Benedict XVI, the theologian and pope emeritus who had resigned the papacy in 2013, died at a monastery in Vatican City.