St. John the Apostle travels to Ephesus with the Blessed Virgin Mary
John 18:25-27 tells how, from the Cross, Jesus changed St. John with the care of his mother
44
St. James the Apostle is martyred; his body is secretly buried in Spain
46
St. Paul begins missionary journeys to Galatia, Greece, Syria, and other places
49
Council of Jerusalem
64
Persecution of Christians begins under Roman emperor Nero
70
Romans burn the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
80
Didache is written
99
All writings that will become part of the New Testament have been written by this date
Period: 100 to 500
AD 100-500
250
Persecution under Roman emperor Decius
Decius requires all to worship the gods of the state, or be tortured and killed
251
Council of Carthage
303
Persecution under Roman emperor Diocletian
313
Emperor Constantine issues the Edict of Milan
325
Council of Nicaea
330
Emperor Constantine divides the Roman Empire into East and West
330
Construction of the first St. Peter's Basilica in Rome
354
Birth of St. Augustine
360
Books begin to replace scrolls
381
Council of Constantinople
382
Pope Damasus asks St. Jerome to translate the Gospels
397
The Councils of Hippo and Carthage determine which books will become part of the New Testament
405
St. Jerome completes 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
432
St. Patrick sets out to spread the Gospel in Ireland
451
Council of Chalcedon
476
The Western Roman Empire collapses
480
The birth of St. Benedict
496
Clovis, the King of the Franks, coverts to Catholicism
Period: 500 to 1000
AD 500-1000
507
Clovis' army drives Visigoths out of France
527
Justinian 1 becomes emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire
529
St. Benedict founds the first monastery
537
Construction of Hagia Sophia (current structure) begins in Constantinople
590
St. Gregory the Great becomes 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
637
Muslims attack Constantinople
638
Muslims capture Jerusalem
698
Muslims take Carthage
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 kings of the Franks
793
Vikings attack England
800
Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III
800
Gunpowder is invented
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
St. Gregory VII elected pope
1073
Pope St. Gregory VII excommunicated 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
The Inquisition is founded
Period: 1265 to 1274
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologica
1300
The Renaissance begins
1347
Bubonic plague arrives in Europe
1386
St. Catherine of Siena cares for the sick and buries the dead when the plague strikes Siena
1440
Printing Press invented
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
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.
1526
Franciscan missionaries arrive in what is now Florida
1534
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 after
1535
St. Thomas More is executed by 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 Columbia
The Mayflower sets sail from England to North America
The Colony of Maryland is established
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 French Revolution begins
The US Constitution prevents religious tests for national office
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 becomes chancellor of Germany: first Nazi concentration camp is opened
Day founds the Catholic Worker newspaper
World 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)