Jesus to AD 500

By vtran
  • Period: 27 BCE to 180

    Pax Romana

  • 33

    The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

  • 33

    Pentecost

  • 33

    The Apostles Spread the Gospel

  • 33

    Saint Stephen is Martyred

  • 34

    The Conversion of Saint Paul

  • 42

    Saint John the Apostle Travels to Ephesus with the Blessed Virgin Mary

    In in the gospel of John 19:25-27 tells us how from the cross, Jesus charged Saint John with the care of his mother.
  • 44

    Saint James the Apostle is Martyred; His Body is Secretly Buried in Spain

    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)
  • 46

    Saint Paul Begins Missionary Journeys to Galatia, Greece, Syria, and Other Places

  • 49

    Council of Jerusalem

    This 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.
  • 64

    Persecution of Christians Begins Under Roman Emperor Nero

  • 70

    Romans Burn the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem

  • 80

    Didache Written

  • 99

    All of the Writings that Will Become Part of the New testament Have Been Written at this Date

  • Period: 100 to 500

    The Saints

  • 250

    Persecution Under Roman Emperor Decius

    Decius required all to worship the gods of the state or be tortured and killed
  • 251

    Council of Carthage

    This council allowed people who lapsed in their faith during the persecution to be brought back into the Church after a period of penance.
  • 303

    Persecution under Roman emperor Diocletian

    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.
  • 313

    Emperor Constantine issues the Edict of Milan

    This edict granted religious toleration to Christians and unleashed the spread of Christianity.
  • 325

    Council of Nicaea

    This council, called by the Emperor Constantine, set forth the Nicaean Creed and affirmed that Jesus and the Father are consubstantial - of the same substance.
  • 330

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

  • 330

    Emperor Constantine divides the Roman Empire into East and West

    The west was centered in Rome, and the East was centered in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey)
  • 354

    The Birth of St. Augustine

  • 360

    Books Begin to replace Scrolls

  • 382

    Pope Damasus has Saint Jerome Translate the Gospels to Latin

  • 397

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

  • 405

    St Jerome complete his translation of the Old Testament

  • 410

    The Visigoths destroy the city of Rome

  • 410

    St. Augustine begins writing The City of God.

  • 431

    Council of Ephesus

    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(Hypostatic Union))
  • 432

    St. Patrick sets out to spread the Gospel in Ireland

  • 451

    Council of Chalcedon

    This council affirmed that Christ was fully human and fully divine (the hypostatic union)
  • 476

    The Western Roman Empire collapses

  • 480

    Birth of Saint Benedict

  • 496

    Clovis, the King of the Franks, converts to Catholicism

  • Period: 500 to 1000

    AD 500-1000

  • 507

    Clovis' army drives Visigoths out of France

  • 527

    Justinian I becomes the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire

  • 529

    St. Benedict founds the first monastery

  • 529

    St. Benedict founds his first monastery

  • 537

    Construction of Hagia Sophia (current structure) begins in Constantinople

  • 590

    St. Gregory the Great becomes the Pope

  • 596

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

  • 597

    St. Augustine baptizes the King of Kent

  • 632

    Death of Mohammad

    Mohammad, whom Muslims called the Prophet Mohammad, is the founder of Islam. By the time of his death, all of Arabia is Muslim
  • 637

    Muslims attack Constantinople

  • 638

    Muslims capture Jerusalem

  • 698

    Muslims take Carthage

    End of Eastern Roman rule in North Africa
  • 711

    Muslims invade and occupy Spain

  • 716

    St. Boniface leaves England to evangelize Germania

  • 732

    France halts Muslim invasion

  • 754

    With St. Boniface's help, the Pope allies with the king of the Franks

  • 793

    Vikings attack England

  • 800

    Gunpowder invented

  • 800

    Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III

    Eastern Christians in Constantinople did not approve of Charlemagne's coronation, and the new title bestowed by the pope caused further division between the East and the West.
  • 885

    Vikings attack Paris

  • 997

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

  • 1000

    Muslims control two-thirds of the ancient Christian world

  • 1054

    The Great Schism

  • 1073

    Pope St. Gregory VII elected pope

  • 1073

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

  • 1088

    First universities founded

  • 1094

    The Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople asks the West for aid against Muslim armies

  • 1095

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

  • 1144

    First Gothic cathedral completed

  • 1147

    Second Crusade

  • 1192

    Third Crusade

  • 1204

    Crusaders from the Fourth Crusade sack Constantinople

  • 1209

    Franciscan order is founded by St. Francis of Assisi

  • 1216

    Dominican Order founded by St. Dominic

  • 1229

    Inquisition is founded

  • Period: 1265 to 1274

    St. Thomas Aquinas writes the Summa Theologica

  • 1300

    The Renaissance begins

  • 1347

    The Bubonic Plague arrives in Europe

  • 1377

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

  • 1386

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

  • 1440

    Printing Press invented

  • 1453

    Muslims conquer Constantinople and turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque

  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas

  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus sails for North America

  • 1513

    Ponce de Leon of Spain founds St. Augustine, Florida

    St. Augustine, named for St. Augustine of Hippo, was the first European settlement in what is now the United States of America.
  • 1517

    Martin Luther presents the 95 Theses

    In this document, Luther presented what he saw as abusive practices in the Catholic Church.
  • 1520

    Luther denies the authority of the Pope to interpret Scripture

  • 1521

    Luther is excommunicated

  • 1522

    Luther translates the Bible into German

    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.
  • 1526

    Franciscan missionaries arrive in what is now Florida

  • 1534

    St. Ignatius 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

  • 1535

    St. Thomas More is executed by King Henry VIII

  • 1536

    Henry VIII dissolves all monasteries and convents in England and Ireland

  • 1541

    First Franciscan explorations in what is now California

  • Period: 1545 to 1563

    The Council of Trent

  • 1549

    Jesuit missionaries arrive in the Far East

  • Period: 1562 to 1582

    St. Teresa of Avila founds Discalced Carmelite convents throughout Spain

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

  • St. Peter Claver arrives in Colombia

  • The Mayflower sets sail from England to North America

    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.

  • Colony of Maryland is established

    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

  • Maryland outlaws the public practice of Catholicism in the colony

  • Period: to

    The Enlightenment

  • British colonies in North America declare their independence

  • The US Constitution prevents religious tests for national office

  • The French Revolution begins

    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 First Amendment protects free religious exercise in the US and prevents national government from establishing a religion. States were free to keep their established churches, and many did into the early 1800s.

  • Karl Marx writes the Communist Manifesto

  • Period: to

    Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (known as Vatican I)

  • Bolshevik party formed in Russia

  • World War I begins

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

  • Soviet Union is formed (Lenin was its first leader; Stalin took power two years after Lenin’s death)

  • The first Catholic bishops in China are ordained

  • Servant of God Dorothy Day converts to Catholicism

  • Bl. Miguel Pro is killed by the Mexican government

  • Hitler beomes chancellor of Germany; first Nazi concentration camp is opened

  • Day founds the Catholic Worker newspaper

  • Word War II begins

  • Communist governments begin persecutions and mass murder across Europe and Asia

  • St. Maximilian Kolbe is killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz

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

  • Period: to

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

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

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

  • The Soviet Union begins to fall (The end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of communism in Europe would come in 1991)