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Revised November 20, 2015
——— INCIPIENT ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH ———
95 Clement speaks of succession from the apostles
180 Hegesippus describes apostolic succession in Rome and Corinth.
180 Irenaeus argues for apostolic succession and for the supremacy of Rome
230 Tertullian recommends prayer for the dead
313 Edict of Milan, Constantine allows Christianity freedom of worship and recognition as a legal religion
325 Council of Nicea, summoned by the Roman emperor Constantine, condemned Arianism and affirmed the deity of Christ
330 Constantine declares Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire
381 First council of Constantinople
380 Theodosius I issues an edict making Christianity the exclusive religion of the Roman empire
385 Syricius, Bishop of Rome, enacts celibate clergy
395 Christianity recognized as state religion of the empire
410 Fall of the city of Rome to the Visigoths
Early 400's Augustine defends infant baptism, the sacraments, and the papacy
431 Council of Ephesus, deposed Nestorius and condemned Nestorianism, affirmed Mary as "Mother of God"
——— ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH ———
450 Pope Leo I claims Roman supremacy over all other bishops
450 Pope Leo I requires private confession of sins to a priest
451 Council of Chalcedon, condemned monophysitism, affirmed that Christ combined both divine and human natures, legislation against simony (selling of church offices)
476 Fall of the
Western Roman Empire
529 Benedict founds an order of monks
553 Second council of Constantinople
593 Pope Gregory I, reconfirms celibate clergy, doctrine of purgatory
600s The practice of private (rather than public) confession to a priest becomes more widespread
680-81 Third council of Constantinople, condemned monothelitism
734 Donation of land by Pepin, Beginning of papal states
787 Second council of Nicea, restored the veneration of icons
869-70 Fourth council of Constantinople, excommunicated Photius (patriarch of Constantinople)
900s Simony rampant
962 Holy Roman Empire (until 1806)
1054 Eastern Orthodox split with Rome
1059 College of Cardinals for electing pope
1080s Pope Gregory VII repeatedly attacks simony
1090 The rosary
1095 Scholasticism, Crusades begin
1123 First Lateran council, attempted to curb state influence in the church
1129 Knights Templar endorsed
1139 Second Lateran council
1179 Third Lateran council, condemned simony
1200s Extreme Unction practiced as a sacrament
1209 -1216 Franciscan & Dominican orders formed
1215 Fourth Lateran council, transubstantiation per Pope Innocent III, papal primacy
1231 Pope Gregory IX creates a special inquisition court to investigate and punish heretics
1245 First council of Lyon
1274 Second council of Lyon, attempted reunion with Eastern churches, approved Franciscan and Dominican orders
1309 "Babylonian captivity" at Avignon, France (until 1377)
1311-12 Council of Vienne, disbanded Knights Templar
1378 Western (papal) schism (until 1417)
1370s John Wycliffe challenges papal authority and transubstantiation
1382 John Wycliffe translates the Bible into English
1409 Council of Pisa, tried to reverse the schism that had created the Avignon papacy
1414 -18 Council of Constance, called by Sigismund, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, to resolve the schism
involving three simultaneous popes, Cup forbidden to the people
1415 John Huss burned at the stake for challenging the sale of indulgences and papal authority
1431-45 Council of Basel, Ferrara, and Florence, attempted reconciliation with Eastern Orthodox churches, the seven
sacraments made official, purgatory becomes dogma
1453 Fall of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire
1456 Johannes Gutenberg prints Bible using movable metallic type made in molds
1490s Savonarola preaches against the pope's immorality
1510 Desiderius Erasmus publishes "Praise of Folly"
1510's John Colet advocates literal rather than allegorical interpretation of the New Testament
1512-17 Fifth Lateran council, various reforms (poorly carried out)
1516 Desiderius Erasmus publishes the Greek New Testament
1517 Martin Luther's 95 thesis, beginning of Protestant Reformation
1520 Huldreich Zwingly urges reform in Zurich, Switzerland
1523 Anabaptist movement, Conrad Grebel, Hubmaier, Menno Simons
1534 Jesuits founded by Loyola
1536 Calvin's Institutes
1540 Jesuits approved by pope
1557,1559 Pope Paul IV issues the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books), meant for the whole world
1545-63 Council of Trent, reaction to the Protestant reformation, confirmation of the biblical canon (including
apocryphal books) that had been approved in the previous century, tradition declared equal in authority with the Bible
1773 Jesuits disbanded
1850 Liberalism
1854 Pope Pius IX declares (ex cathedra) the Immaculate Conception of Mary
1859 Darwin's Origin of Species, Evolution
1864 Syllabus of errors
1869-70 First Vatican council, reaffirmed papal primacy, established papal infallibility (response: founding of "Old Catholic Church")
1905 Carl Barth publishes commentary on Romans, Neo-orthodoxy
1906 Brief form of Extreme Unction approved for urgent cases where death is imminent
1929 Concordat with Italy (Pope Pius XI recognizes Italy, and Mussolini recognizes Vatican City as a sovereign nation)
1950 Pope Pius XII declares (ex cathedra) the Assumption of Mary
1962-65 Second Vatican council, promoted Bible study and reconciliation with other Christian churches, Mary Mother of the Church
1966 Index Librorum Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books) abolished
1998 The Vatican opens its records of the Inquisition
2004 Pope John Paul II asked for forgiveness for the wounds caused by the Inquisition
2005-13 Reign of Pope Benedict XVI (one of a very few to resign from the papacy)
2013 Pope Francis' reign begins