Lent marks a 40-day period on the church calendar leading up to the celebration of Easter. During Lent, Christians have traditionally engaged in practices of self-denial, like fasting, meant to orient their hearts and minds to the sufferings of Christ, who spent 40 days in the desert fasting and enduring temptations from Satan. While many evangelicals reject Lenten disciplines for their associations with Catholicism, in recent years a greater number have experimented with practices like giving up a favorite indulgence or abstaining from meat on Fridays.
June 10, 1692: Bridget Bishop becomes the first of 19 suspected witches hanged during the "Salem Witch Trials" (see issue 41: American Puritans).
June 10, 1854: James Augustine Healy is ordained the first African-American priest in Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral. In 1875 he became the first African-American bishop in the Roman Catholic Church.
