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Search for tag "LSA"

from the chronology

date event locations tags see also
1895 23 Jun Birth of Leonora Stirling Holsapple (later Armstrong) in Hudson, New York. She was the first pioneer to Brazil and is regarded as the Mother of South America. [Wikipedia] Hudson; New York; United States Leonora Holsapple Armstrong; Names and titles; Births and deaths
1897 (In the year) The Hands of the Cause appointed by Bahá'u'lláh were instructed by `Abdu'l-Bahá to gather to begin the consultations regarding the future organization of the Bahá'í community in Tihrán.
  • This gathering lead to the formation of the Central Spiritual Assembly of Tihrán in 1899. [BBD98, 114, 115; EB268; BAHAISM v. The Bahai Community in Iran by V. Rafati]
    		• Tihran; Iran Hands appointed by Bahaullah; Hands of the Cause, Activities; Central Spiritual Assembly of Tihran; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA; Administrative Order
    1899 (In the year) A local spiritual assembly called "The Consulting Assembly of Tihrán", a forerunner of the National Spiritual Assembly was established. [EB175–6; 26 November, 2007]
  • Four Hands of the Cause were permanent members; nine others were elected by special electors appointed by the Hands. [EB175–6]
    		•  Tihran; Iran National Spiritual Assembly, formation; LSA; Hands of the Cause; Appointments; Elections
    1899 May A council board of seven officers, a forerunner of the Local Spiritual Assembly, was established in Kenosha. [BFA1:112; GPB260]
  • Those elected were not so much members of a council but rather "community officers" who carried out the decisions made at a community meeting. [BFA1p112] iiiii
    		• Kenosha; Wisconsin; United States Board of Council; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA
    1900 c. 16 Mar The Chicago community re-organized by selecting a ten-member Board of Council. Neither Kheiralla nor any of his supporters were on the Board. [BFA1:XXIX, 170; The Service of Women on the Institutions of the Baha'i Faith] Chicago; United States Board of Council; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA; Ibrahim George Kheiralla
    1900 7 Dec In New York, nine men were selected to govern the affairs of the Faith. Those serving were Arthur Dodge, Hooper Harris, William Hoar, Andrew Hutchinson, Howard MacNutt, Frank Osborne, Edwin Putnam, Charles Sprague and Orosco Woolson. Among the problems that they had to face was the effect of the disaffection of Kheiralla. [BFA2p36; Highlights of the First 40 Years of the Bahá’í Faith in New York, City of the Covenant, 1892-1932 by Hussein Ahdieh p5]

    One of the men, William Hoar, had been present at the reading of the paper by Henry Jessop at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1892. Shortly after he began study of the Faith with Ibrahim Khayru'llah. Later Hoar moved to New York where he continued study with Anton Haddad. Haddad had learned of the Faith in Egypt from Haji 'Abu'l-Karim-i-Tihrani. [WMSH59]

    		 New York; United States Board of Council; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA; Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Arthur Dodge; Hooper Harris; William Hoar; Andrew Hutchinson; Howard MacNutt; Frank Osborne; Edwin Putnam; Charles Sprague; Orosco Woolson; Ibrahim George Kheiralla; Anton Haddad; Haji Abul-Karim-i-Tihrani.
    1901 20 May The number of members on the Board of Council was raised to 12. [BFA2:47] Chicago; United States Board of Council; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA
    1901 24 May The name of the Chicago Board of Council was changed to the House of Justice. [BFA2:48]
  • `Abdu'l-Bahá requested that this name be changed a year later. [BFA2:49]
    		•  Chicago; United States Board of Council; House of Justice; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA
    1902 10 May The Chicago House of Justice (or the Board of Council) changed its name to the House of Spirituality. Membership was restricted to men. [BFA2:XV; SYH64] Chicago; United States House of Justice; House of Spirituality; Spiritual Assemblies; LSA
    1920 After Jul The first Argentineans to become Bahá'ís, Hermann Grossmann and his sister Elsa Grossman, accepted the Faith in Leipzig in 1920.
  • They were born in Argentina and emigrated to Germany in 1909.
  • Dr Grossman heard of the Faith at a public meeting given by Harlan and Grace Ober at the Theosophical Society. [BW13:869]
    		•  Leipzig; Germany Hermann Grossman; Elsa Grossmann; Harlan and Grace Ober; Theosophical Society; First Bahais by country or area
    1921 1 Feb Leonora Holsapple Armstrong, the first Bahá'í pioneer in Latin America, arrived in Rio de Janeiro. She had departed New York on the SS Vasari on the 15th of January. [Baha'iBlog]
  • See a talk by Kristine Ascunsion Young, the great-grand niece of Leonora Holsapple Armstrong. The discourse begins at about 2:30.
    		•  Rio de Janeiro; Brazil Leonora Holsapple Armstrong
    1925 (In the year) The first book translated into Portuguese by Leonora Armstrong was published, Paris Talks, in the original in English, or Lectures by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris as published today by Editora Bahá'í of Brazil. [Biographical Profile] Belem; Paraguay Paris Talks (book); Portuguese; Translation; Leonora Holsapple Armstrong
    1927 (In the year) Leonora Armstrong was the first Bahá'í to visit and speak about the Bahá'í Faith in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Trinidad, Barbados, Haiti, British Guiana and Dutch Guiana (now Suriname). [Biographical Profile] Colombia; Venezuela; Ecuador; Trinidad and Tobago; Barbados; Haiti; British Guiana; Suriname Travel teaching; Leonora Holsapple Armstrong
    1927 9 Sep - 2 Dec Leonora Holsapple (later Armstrong) made a teaching trip through Latin America and the Caribbean, becoming the first Bahá’í to visit Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, Curaçao, Trinidad (2–12 Oct), the Guianas (29 Oct), Barbados (Dec) and several islands in the Antilles group. Latin America; Caribbean Leonora Holsapple Armstrong
    1930 (In the year) Leonora Holsapple Armstrong visited Gibraltar, the first Bahá’í to do so. Gibraltar Leonora Holsapple Armstrong
    1934. 8 Nov There were ten Bahá'ís in Addis Ababa when the first LSA was elected. Its members were Atto Sium Gabril-ch, Atto Haila Gabril-vc, Habib Boutros, Sabri Elias-sec, Edouard Goubran, El-Saad Said, E-saad Mansour, Abdu'llahi ahmed, and Aurahil Egsabaihir.
  • A cable announcing formation of the Assembly was sent to Shoghi Effendi, who replied "rejoiced, praying, love, gratitude".
  • Mr Sabri Effendi Elias had come from Alexandria in Egypt. He printed one thousand pamphlets in Amerigna, and translated Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era. The same work was later printed in Abyssinian. [Bahá'í Communities by Country: Research Notes by Graham Hassall]
  • In 1934 he was able to get translated and published Baha'u'lláh and the New Era in Amharic. This was an important step in disseminating the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith across the country. The book was distributed to local libraries and to Bahá'ís around the world. In 1936, a copy of the book was given to the then - Ethiopian King, His Majesty Haile Selassie when he was visiting Jerusalem by a Canadian Bahá'í Mrs. Lorol Schipeflocher. [bahai.org]
  • A circular letter of 21 August 1935 informed LSAs that spiritual meetings had been suspended due to the "present condition of Ethiopia". Elias was forced to leave Ethiopia by socio-political events in 1935, but he and Mrs Elias returned to Addis Ababa in January 1944. [BW10p57]
  • This Assembly became the first incorporated Local Spiritual Assembly in Africa. [BW13p287]
    		•  Addis Ababa; Ethiopia Local Spiritual Assembly, incorporation; LSA, formation
    1937 (In the year) The persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran continued throughout the country. [BW18p389]
  • Many Bahá’ís employed in the police force, army and government departments were dismissed.
  • Six members of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ahváz were arrested.
  • Bahá’ís who closed their shops on Bahá’í holy days in Bandar Sháh were arrested.
  • All Bahá’í meetings in Kirmánsháh, Bírjand, Arák and other towns were prohibited by police order.
  • Five Bahá’í families were attacked in their homes in Cham-tang, near Hindíyán. They were severely beaten and forced to leave the village.
    		•  Iran; Ahvaz; Bandar Shah; Kirmanshah; Birjand; Arak; Cham-tang Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Other; Persecution; LSA; Holy days
    1937 Ridván The First Seven Year Plan (1937-1944) was launched in North America. [BBD180; BBRSM158; BW7:17–18; MA9, 11-12, 87]
  • The Guardian's Seven Year Plan for the American Bahá'ís
  • For the role of individuals, local spiritual assemblies and the National Spiritual Assembly see MA11–12.
  • The Plan called for:
    • the completion of the exterior of the Wilmette Temple. BW7:17–18; PP385]
    • the establishment of a local spiritual assembly in each state and province of the United States and Canada. [PP385]
    • the establishment of a centre in each of the republics of Latin America. [PP385]
    		•  United States; Canada Seven Year Plan, US and CA (1937-1944); Teaching Plans; Teaching Plans, National; LSA; Mashriqul-Adhkar, Wilmette
    1940 (In the year) The first local spiritual assembly in Brazil was established in Bahia, with the assistance of Leonora Holsapple Armstrong.
  • The second Local Spiritual Assembly was formed in Rio de Janeiro and, in 1946 the third, in São Paulo. [Biographical Profile]
    		•  Bahia; Brazil; Rio de Janeiro; Brazil; São Paulo; Brazil Leonora Holsapple Armstrong; Local Spiritual Assembly, formation
    1942 Ridván The first local assembly in El Salvador was established in San Salvador. San Salvador LSA
    1944 May The British at their national convention, decided to ask the Guardian for their own Six Year Plan. [UDXVI]
  • He responded immediately by setting them the task of forming 19 assemblies spread over England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire. [UD173]
  • Shoghi Effendi described this as ‘their first collective enterprise’. [UDXVI, 173–4]
  • See also BBRSM158, 185.
    		•  United Kingdom; Ireland Conventions, National; Teaching Plans, National; Firsts, Other; LSA
    1951 25 Jan or 4 Feb Claire Gung arrived in Tanganyika aboard the Warwick Castle and obtained employment as a matron in a boys' boarding school in Lushoto. She was the second Bahá’í pioneer to the country. [CG160; CBN No 18 Mar 1951 p10]
  • She later pioneered to Uganda and Southern Rhodesia during the Ten Year Crusade.
  • An additional group of early arrivals in East Africa settled in Tanganyika in 1951. They included Hassan and Isobel Sabri who came from Egypt, and Jalal Nakhjavání and his family from Iran. By 1954, a Local Spiritual Assembly had been elected in Dar es Salaam including three native believers. Among them was Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele, the first to accept the Faith in Tanzania. [A Brief Account of the Bahá'í Faith in Africa Since 1953 by Nance Ororo-Robarts and Selam Ahderrom p2]
      History of the Bahá’í Faith in Tanzania said that the first local spiritual assembly was elected in Dar es Salaam in 1952 and that it received civic registration later under Tanganyika’s Trustee’s Incorporation Ordinance.
    		• Tanzania; Dar-es-salaam Knights of Bahaullah; Claire Gung; Hassan Sabri; Isobel Sabri; Jalal Nakhjavani; Denis Dudley-Smith Kutendele, LSA, formation
    1953 Sep Elsa Grossman arrived in the Frisian Islands and was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh. [BW13:452] Frisian Islands Elsa Grossmann; Knights of Bahaullah; Islands
    1955 Ridván The first Local Spiritual Assembly in Italian Somalia was formed in Mogadishu. Mogadishu; Italian Somaliland LSA
    1955. 23 Apr Ramadán began. Shaykh Muhammad-Taqí known as "Falsafí" made an inflammatory speech against the Bahá’ís from a mosque in Tihrán. [BW18p390]
  • This was broadcast on national radio and stirred up the people against the Bahá’ís. [BW18:390]
  • Beatings, killings, looting and raping went on for several weeks, usually incited by the local ‘ulamá. [BW18:390–1; MC16–17; ZK215–6]
  • The House of the Báb in Shíráz was attacked and damaged by a mob led by Siyyid Núru’d-Dín, a mujtahid.
  • See a publication in the newspaper Shahin Tehran about his "work".
    		•  Tihran; Shiraz; Iran Bab, House of (Shiraz); Persecution, Iran; Persecution, Deaths; Persecution, Mobs; Persecution; Falsafi; Shaykh Muhammad-Taqi
    1959 Mar A number of Bahá’ís, members of the local spiritual assembly, were arrested in Ankara, Turkey. [MC306]
  • The incident received wide coverage in the press and the Bahá’ís were eventually released from prison. [MC306]
  • A court case was subsequently brought against the Bahá’ís by the public prosecutor, who claimed that the Faith is a ‘Tarighat’, a sect forbidden by the law of the land, and lengthy litigation followed. [MC306–7]
    		•  Ankara; Turkey Persecution, Turkey; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution, Court cases; Persecution; LSA; Court cases
    1961 Jan - Feb Hand of the Cause of God Dr Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir traveled to India and demonstrated the principle of mass teaching. [DM172–84; SBBH2:165–7]
  • Mass teaching began in the rural area of Madhya Pradesh among the Hindu population. In 1961 there were 850 Bahá’ís; in 1963 87,000; by 1973 nearly 400,000; and by 1987 about two million. In 1983 45 per cent of all local spiritual assemblies were in India. [BBRSM195; BW13:299]
    		•  Madhya Pradesh; India Hands of the Cause; Hands of the Cause, Activities; Rahmatullah Muhajir; Mass conversion; Mass teaching; Teaching; LSA; Statistics; Growth
    1962 27 Dec The Custodians asked national and local spiritual assemblies to write to the Moroccan ambassador in their respective countries pleading for justice and religious freedom. [MoC398–9] Morocco; Worldwide Persecution, Morocco; Persecution, Other; Persecution; Human rights; Custodians; NSA; LSA
    1973 (In the year) Leonora Armstrong was appointed to the Continental Board of Counsellors. [Biographical Profile] Brazil Counsellors; Leonora Holsapple Armstrong
    1977 16 Sep In Uganda, 27 religious organizations were banned, including the Bahá’í Faith, and the Bahá’í House of Worship was closed. [BW17:81]
  • The national spiritual assembly and all 1,550 local assemblies were dissolved. [BW17:141]
  • The Assembly was able to re-form in 1981. [The Achievements of the Seven Year Plan p2]
    		•  Uganda Persecution, Uganda; Persecution, Bans; Persecution; National Spiritual Assembly, formation; LSA; Mashriqul-Adhkar, Kampala; Mashriqul-Adhkar (House of Worship)
    1980. Oct (Mid) The First Latin American Bahá'í Women's Conference was held in Brasilia at the Convention Centre.
  • Leonera Armstrong, on her deathbed in Salvador, Bahia at the time, addressed the conference via a message recorded on cassette tape.
      Woman, light of the future generation - when we, the women of the world, reflect on the true meaning of this theme that was chosen and as its full meaning penetrates more and more deeply into the conscience of each woman, we must understand that affectionate, that supreme privilege is ours and that inescapable duty is ours, and so we must rise as never before, to fulfill our first obligation. Women know that they are the first educators of humanity ...
    [Biographical Profile]
    		•  Brasilia; Bahia; Brazil; Latin America Latin American Bahai Womens Conference; Conferences, Women; Conferences; Leonora Holsapple Armstrong
    1980 17 Oct Leonora Stirling Holsapple Armstrong, (b.June 23, 1895, Hudson, New York), the ‘spiritual mother of South America’ and the first Latin American pioneer, passed away in the city of Salvador in Bahia, Brazil. She had served on the Continental Board of Counsellors from her appointment in 1973. [Mess63-86p248; BW18:738; VV32]
  • For her obituary see BW18:733–738.
  • See Armstrong, Counsellor Leonora: A Loving Portrait by Kristine Leonard Asuncion. Brief biographical sketch of Counsellor Armstrong, the "Spiritual Mother of South America" .
  • Bahá'í Blog.
  • Wikipedia.
  • Bahaipedia.
  • See FMH40-41 for the story of how she was inspired to go pioneering as told to Doris and Willard McKay. (She had been a classmate of Willard's sister Marguerite at Cornell University.)
    		•  Bahia; Brazil Leonora Holsapple Armstrong; Names and titles; In Memoriam
    1988 Oct In the State of Orissa, India, 2,600 people became Bahá’ís and 16 new local spiritual assemblies were formed in 15 days. Orissa; India Mass conversion; LSA
    1988 Nov More than 2,500 people enrolled in Bangladesh. [BINS190:5]
  • A later report indicated that over 5,000 people had become Bahá’ís and 108 new local spiritual assemblies formed. [BINS192:1]
    		• Bangladesh Mass conversion; LSA
    1992 Ridván The first local spiritual assembly in Mongolia was formed in Ulaan Baatar. [BINS269:4]
  • The local assembly was understood to have been formed in the spring of 1991 but this was found to have been a mistake.
    		•  Ulaan Baatar; Mongolia LSA
    1997 Ridván The Universal House of Justice restricted the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies to the first day of Riḍván. This measure had the effect anticipated; there was a decrease in the number of these institutions but the fall was not drastic. [Message from the Universal House of Justice Ridván 2000]

    		Worldwide Ridvan; Elections; Administration; Local Spiritual Assemblies; LSA; Growth; Statistics; Bahai Faith, Evolutionary nature of; Maturity
    1997 30 May In its message of 30 May 1997 the Universal House of Justice announced that they have authorized the formation of "State Bahá'í Councils" or "Regional Teaching and Administrative Committees" to be called "Regional Bahá'í Councils. Their intention was to provide a balance between centralization and decentralization. This structure had been in place in some countries, notably India, for some years prior to this time. See 23 May, 1986. [TP87-90]
    For a synopsis of the letter see The Establishment of Regional Bahá'í Councils in Certain Countries, Their Characteristics and Functions.
    The distinguishing effects of the establishment of Regional Bahá’í Councils were the following:
  • It provided for a level of autonomous decision making on both teaching and administrative matters, as distinct from merely executive action, below the National Assembly and above the Local Assemblies.
  • It involved the members of Local Spiritual Assemblies of the area in the choice of the members of the Council, thus reinforcing the bond between it and the local believers while, at the same time, bringing into public service capable believers who were known to the friends in their own region.
  • It established direct consultative relationships between the Continental Counselors and the Regional Bahá’í Councils.
  • It offered the possibility of forming a Regional Bahá’í Council in an ethnically distinct region which covered parts of two or more countries. In such a situation the Council was designated to work directly under one of the National Assemblies involved, providing copies of its reports and minutes to the other National Assembly.
  • The greater degree of decentralization involved in the devolution of authority upon Regional Bahá’í Councils required a corresponding increase in the capacity of the National Spiritual Assembly itself to keep fully informed of what was proceeding in all parts of the territory over which it had ultimate jurisdiction.
    		•  BWC; Haifa State Bahai Councils; Regional Bahai Councils; National Spiritual Assemblies; NSA; Local Spiritual Assemblies; LSA; Administration; Regional Council

    from the main catalogue

    1. Armstrong, Counsellor Leonora: A Loving Portrait, by Kristine Leonard Asuncion, in Bahá'í News, 617 (1982). Brief biographical sketch of Counsellor Armstrong, the "Spiritual Mother of South America" (1895-1980). [about]
    2. Dawn over Mount Hira and Other Essays, by Marzieh Gail (1976). A collection of essays on various topics of interest to Bahá'í studies and history. Most of these were first published in Star of the West and World Order between 1929 and 1971. [about]
    3. Kitáb-i-Iqán, The: Revolutionizing the Concepts of Religion, Eschatology and Theology, by Sohrab Kourosh, in Lights of Irfan, 19 (2018). The Kitáb-i-Íqán resolves and removes eschatological barriers and establishes the fundamentals of a universal religion and a universal theology, that integrates and harmonizes other contending ideologies. [about]
    4. Logos, Mythos and Kerygma: The Logic of Reconciliation and the Occultation of the Promised Qá'im in Bábí-Bahá'í Scripture, by Ismael Velasco (2004). Theological background of the Twelfth Imam in Shi'i Islam, comprehensive interpretation of Bahá'u'lláh's and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's position on the occultation and the Qá'ím, and the historicity of the 12th Imám in the Bahá'í writings. [about]
    5. Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986: Third Epoch of the Formative Age, by Universal House of Justice (1996). [about]
    6. Regarding Jaʻfar-i-Kadhdháb ('Jaʻfar the Liar'), by Bahá'u'lláh (2016). One-paragraph passage about the mystical cities Jabulqa and Jabulsa and the truthfulness of a figure, Jaʻfar (connected with the history of the Twelfth Imam). [about]
    7. Whatever happened to the Double Crusade?, by Glenford Mitchell (1996). Lengthy commentary on the progress of teaching and the Four Year Plan, delivered at Foundation Hall in Wilmette. Includes discussion of the travels and teaching work of Leonora Armstrong. [about]
     
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