April 26, 1521: After Charles V promises to take firmer measures against his doctrines, Luther leaves the Diet of Worms. A month later, his teachings are formally condemned (see issue 34: Luther's Early Years).
April 26, 1877: Residents of Minnesota observe a state-wide day of prayer, asking deliverance from a plague of grasshoppers that had ruined thousands of acres of crops. The plague ended during that summer.
April 26, 1992: The bells of the Ivan the Great Belltower in Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow peal on Easter for the first time in seven decades. Since the time of the Communist Revolution in1917, Russian Orthodox Christian experienced severe repression but churches remained open and continued to hold services despite government persecution.