Mary Morse Baker Eddy (1821–1910), founder of Christian Science, was born on this day and raised on a farm near Concord, New Hampshire—a quiet beginning for a woman who would spark a spiritual movement.

“Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it,” she once said.

After personal tragedy and years of suffering from illness, Eddy turned to the New Testament in 1866 and experienced what she described as a profound healing. Her revelation inspired the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875), which laid the foundation for her spiritual philosophy.

“Christian Science explains all cause and effect as mental, not physical,” she explained.

In 1879, she founded The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, and soon after, the Massachusetts Metaphysical College to teach the methods of spiritual healing she developed.

“The prayer that reforms and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfish love,” she said.

With the motto “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” Eddy launched the Christian Science Monitor in 1908, a respected international daily newspaper that continues today.

She believed deeply in divine love: “Divine love always has met and always will meet every human need.”