Jesus to AD 500

Pax Romana begins

Period: 27 to 180

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

33

Pentacost

33

The Apostles spread the Gospel

33

St. Stephen is martyred

33

The Conversion of St. Paul

34

St. John the Apostle travels to Ephesus with the Blessed mother

42

John 19:25-27 tells of how, from the Cross, Jesus charged St. John with the care of His mother.

St. James the Apostle is martyred; his body is secretly buried in Spain

44

Christians stole his body and brought it in a boat to Spain, to a place that would become known as Santiago (St. James) de Compostela (field of stars)

St. Paul begins missionary journeys to Galatia, Greece, Syria, and other places.

46

Council of Jerusalem

49

The council affirms that the New Covenant in Christ means that Christians are not bound by Mosaic Law and that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to Jew and Gentile alike.

Persecution of Christians begins under Roman emperor Nero

64

Romans burn the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem

70

Didache written

80

All the writings that will become part of the New Testament have been written by this date

99

AD 100 to 500

Period: 100 to 500

Persecution under Roman emperor Decius

250

Decius required all to worship the gods of the state, or be tortured and killed.

Council of Carthage

251

This council allowed people who lapsed in their faith during the persecution to be brought back into the Church after a period of penance.

Persecution under Roman emperor Diocletian

303

Diocletian ordered the destruction of all Christian churches, imprisonment of bishops and priests, and the execution of all who refused to participate in the public worship of pagan gods.

Emperor Constantine issues the Edict of Milan

313

This edict granted religious toleration to Christians and unleashed the spread of Christianity.

Council of Nicaea

325

This council, called by Emperor Constantine, set forth the Nicene Creed and affirmed that Jesus and the Father are insubstantial - of the same substance.

Emperor Constantine divides the Roman Empire into East and West

330

The West was centered in Rome, and the East was centered in Constantinople (present-day Instanbul, Turkey).

Construction of the first St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

330

Birth of St. Augustine

354

Books begin to replace scrolls

360

Pope Damasus asks St. Jerome to translate the Gospels into Latin

382

The Councils of Hippo and Carthage determine which books will become part of the New Testament.

397

St. Jerome complete his translation of the Old Testament

405

The Visigoths destroy the city of Rome

410

St. Augustine begins writing The City of God

410

Council of Ephesus

431

This council condemned a heresy that said that Jesus was two persons in one body, and the council declared that the Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God (Theotokos).

St. Patrick sets out to spread the Gospel in Ireland

432

Council of Chalcedon

451

This council affirmed that Christ is fully human and fully divine (the hypostatic union).

The Western Roman Empire collapses

476

Birth of St. Benedict

480

Clovis, the King of the Franks, coverts to Catholicism

496

AD 500 to 1000

Period: 500 to 1000

Clovis' army drives Visigoths out of France

507

Justinian I becomes emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire

527

St. Benedict founds the first monastery

529

Construction of Hagia Sophia (current structure) begins in Constantinople

537

St. Gregory the Great becomes pope

590

Pope St. Gregory the Great sends St. Augustine of Canterbury to England to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons

596

St. Augustine baptizes the King of Kent

597

Death of Mohammad

632

Mohammad, whom Muslims call the Prophet Mohammad, is the founder of Islam. By the time of his death, all of Arabia is Muslim.

Muslims attack Constantinople

637

Muslims capture Jerusalem

638

Muslims take Carthage

698

End of Eastern Roman rule in North Africa

Muslims invade and occupy Spain

711

St. Boniface leaves England to evangelize Germania

716

France halts Muslim invasion

732

With St. Boniface's help, the pope allies with the kings of the Franks

754

Vikings attack England

793

Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III

800

Eastern Christians in Constantinople did not approve of Charlemagne's coronation, and the new title bestowed by the pope caused further division between East and West.

Gunpowder invented

800

Vikings attack Paris

885

Muslims occupy Santiago de Compostela in Spain, burial place of St. James the Apostle

997

Muslims control two thirds of the ancient Christian world

1000

The Great Schism

1054

St. Gregory VII elected pope

1073

Pope St. Gregory VII excommunicates the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV

1073

First universities founded

1088

The Byzantine emperor in Constantinople asks the West for aid against Muslims armies

1094

Pope Urban II calls for a Crusade, and Christians temporarily capture Jerusalem

1095

First Gothic cathedral completed

1144

Second Crusade

1147

Third Crusade

1192

Crusaders from the Fourth Crusade sack Constantinople

1204

Franciscan Order is founded by St. Francis of Assisi

1209

Dominican Order founded by St. Dominic

1216

The Inquisition is founded

1229

St. Thomas Aquinas writes the Summa Theologica

Period: 1265 to 1274

The Renaissance begins

1300

Bubonic plague arrives in Europe

1347

St. Catherine of Siena convinces the pope to return the papacy to Rome

1377

St. Catherine of Siena cares for the sick and buried the dead when the plague strikes Siena

1386

Printing Press invented

1440

Muslims conquer Constantinople and tun Hagia Sophia into a mosque

1453

Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas

1492

Christopher Columbus sails for North America

1492

Ponce de Leon of Spain founds St. Augustine, Florida

1513

St. Augustine, named for St. Augustine of Hippo, was the first European settlement in what is now the United States.

Martin Luther presents the 95 Theses

1517

In this document, Luther presented what he saw as abusive practices in the Catholic Church.

Luther denies the authority of the pope to interpret Scripture

1520

Luther is excommunicated

1521

Luther translates the Bible into German

1522

Luther removed seven Old Testament books: Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch. He also tried to change the New Testament by moving the letter of James, the letter to the Hebrews, the letters of John, and the book of Revelation into an appendix.

Franciscan missionaries arrive in what is now Florida

1526

St. Ignatius of Loyola founds the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

1534

King Henry VIII of England breaks England from the Catholic Church after the pope refuses to allow him a divorce

1534

St. Thomas More is executed by Henry VIII

1535

Henry VIII dissolves all monasteries and convents in England and Ireland

1536

First Franciscan explorations in what is now California

1541

The Council of Trent

Period: 1545 to 1563

Jesuit missionaries arrive in the Far East

1549

St. Teresa of Avila founds Discalced Carmelite convents throughout Spain

Period: 1562 to 1582

The King James Bible becomes the Bible of the Church of England

1611

St. Peter Claver arrives in Colombia

1611

The Mayflower sets sail from England to North America

1622

Separatists wishing to further “purify” the Church of England of Catholic influence leave for North America on the Mayflower. They hoped their colony would be a “city on a hill”--an example to the Church of England of the need for further reform. In the New World, many would be persecuted for their faith. Most of the first British colonies in North America legally exclude Catholics, Quakers, and others from participation in public life.

The Colony of Maryland is established

1634

Maryland will be the first colony to allow religious freedom for Catholics. Jesuit priests there will offer the first Holy Mass in the British colonies.

England overthrows its Catholic king and bans any future Catholic monarchs

1689

Maryland outlaws the public practice of Catholicism in the colony

1704

The Enlightenment

Period: 1715 to 1789

British colonies in North America declare their independence

1776

The French Revolution begin

1789

One of the goals of the revolution was to turn France into a completely secular nation and rid it of Christianity. Church property was seized, and many priests and religious were persecuted, imprisoned, and killed.

The US Constitution prevents religious tests for national office

1789

The First Amendment protects free religious exercise in the US and prevents the national government from establishing a religion.

1791

States were free to keep their established churches, and many did into the early 1800s.

Karl Marx writes the Communist Manifesto

1848

Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (known as the Vatican I)

Period: 1868 to 1870

Bolshevik party formed in Russia

1903

World War I begins

1914

Three children at Fatima, Portugal, are granted visions of the Virgin Mary

1917

Our Lady asked the children to pray the Rosary every day to stop the spread of Russia’s errors and for world peace. She asked that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart.

Mexico outlaws Catholicism

1917

The Soviet Union is formed

1922

Lenin was its first leader; Stalin took power two years after Lenin’s death

The first Catholic bishops in China are ordained

1926

Servant of God Dorothy Day converts to Catholicism

1926

Bl. Miguel Pro is killed by the Mexican government

1927

Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany; the first Nazi concentration camp is opened

1933

Day founds the Catholic Worker newspaper

1933

World War II begins

1939

Communist governments begin persecutions and mass murder across Europe and Asia

1940

St. Maximilian Kolbe is killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz

1941

Pope St. John XXIII calls the Church council that will become known as Vatican II

1959

Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (now known as Vatican II)

Period: 1962 to 1965

The US Supreme Court rules that the Constitution protects the right to an abortion

1973

Pope St. John Paul II survives an assassination attempt ordered by the KGB (the Soviet intelligence agency)

1981

The Soviet Union begins to fall

1989

The end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of communism in Europe would come in 1991.