Feb 2 Benedict XIII [Pietro Francesco Orsini], Italian 245th Pope (1724-30), born in Gravina, Kingdom of Naples (d. 1730) Feb 8 Gabriel Daniel, French Jesuit historian (d. 1728) Feb 11 William Carstares, Scottish minister (d. 1715) Feb 23 John Blow, English composer, composed 1st English opera (Venus & Adonis) (baptized date) (d. 1708) Feb 27 Johann Philipp Krieger, German Baroque organist and composer, bapitzed in Nuremberg, Electorate of Bavaria (now Germany) (d. 1725) 1648 Famous Birthdays by Year 1650