8A-8B Church History Timeline
Using We Live our Faith Textbook by Sadlier
Notes by Ms. Smith
Apostolic Age 30-100 A.D.
33AD
AD = Anno Domini (AD or A.D.) “In the year of our Lord”
-Crucifixion, death & Resurrection
-Ascension of Christ
-Holy Spirit come to apostles = Pentecost
40
- Word Christian is used
50
-Conversion of Saul - becomes Paul about age 60 dies AD 67
-Writes 13 letters to communities in the New Testament
51 A.D.
-Council of Jerusalem
-decide Greeks/Romans = Gentiles
-Gentiles became known as Christians w/o being Jewish
65-120
New Testament is written approx..
-Matthew 70 -Mark 80 -Luke 90 -John 100
Post-Apostolic Age100-400
- *a time of great conflict and controversy and Christian persecution
313
-Constantine 1st - aka Constantine the Great
-Edict of Milan -- legalizes Christianity and protects Rome against persecution.
- Christianity shifted from being illicit/persecuted to being protected and soon the dominant religion
of the roman Empire.
325
First Council of Nicaea 1
-approves the Creed = Nicene Creed. = which is a list of Christian beliefs
- Confirms that GOD EXISTS IN 3 PERSONS – God is a Triune God =TRINITY
354
-St. Augustine is born – one of the most important theologians in Ch. Hist.
Augustine was the Bishop of Hippo [(modern-day Annaba, Algeria, Africa) St Monica – mom
- Conversion to Christianity in 387,
Early Middle Ages 400-1000
400-405
-St. Jerome translate the Old Testament and New Testament from Greek/Hebrew to Latin
-This Latin translation stood as the preeminent Bible text for centuries.
-Testament means ‘covenant’ -meaning a promise
431-Council of Ephesus
- Conclude that Maternity of Mary – she is indeed the Mother of Jesus & “Mother of God”
451
-Council of Chalcedon
-Answered the Question: Is Jesus truly God and truly Human?
-Pope Leo the Great led the answer: Jesus has two natures- divine and human!!
540
-Pope Benedict - aka -Benedict of Nursia [b.480 – 543 or 547)
-Writes the Monastic Rule and forever influences Western society
-St. Benedict built Montecassino Monastery [80 mi. south of Rome] in 529 AD, bombed during
WWII, rebuilt, still stands today
-built the first monastery = now educates priests and monks
590
Gregory the Great = became Pope Gregory (Saint)
-began Gregorian Music
- wrote the order of the Mass (Sacramentary)
-sends out missionaries to France, Spain, England. Africa
787- Second council of Nicaea
- cross is used as a symbol of Christians
- images of jesus, mary angels and saints may be given adoration which is called
“Veneration of an Icon”
Middle Ages 1000-1500 TEXT Ch. 10, 11, 12.
1054 Great Schism Btw Christians in the EAST/WEST Church.
1095 the First Crusade organized by Pope Urban II
-by calling all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with
a cry of "Deus vult!" or "God wills it!"--Addressed corruption in the church
1. Simony = the buying and selling of spiritual things, spiritual services, or Church offices
Ch. 10 (p. 109)
2. Lay investiture = illicit practice by secular leaders to invest, or empower, a Church leader
with authority Ch. 10. (p. 109)
--There emerged the new mendicant orders (pg. 111 student text) founded by Francis of Assisi
(c.1181-1226) and Dominic Guzman (c.1170-1221).
--Franciscans and Dominicans were friars based on St. Francis and St. Dominic = two great
Religious Orders that began during the 13 century. The mendicant friars were bound by a vow of poverty and
dedication to an austere way of life, renouncing property and traveling the world to preach. Their survival was dependent upon
the good will of their listeners. It was this way of life that gave them their name, "mendicant," derived from the Latin
mendicare, meaning "to beg.
Christendom = the cultural and political atmosphere that came into existence during the High
Middle Ages in Europe when nearly everyone was Catholic and Catholicism influenced every
aspect of people's lives (p. 110)
1215 Pope leo III = 3rd
--Gathered the Fourth Lateran Council was a ecumenical council called by Pope Innocent III
in 1215; this council ruled that Catholics must receive Holy Communion at least once a year, and
that the word transubstantiation would be used to describe the changing of bread and wine into the
Body and Blood of Christ during the consecration of the Mass (p. 110)
-Made 2 significant decrees
1.Catholics must have Holy Communion/Eucharist at least once a year.
2. Approved Transubstantiation – is the term used to describe the changing of the bread and
wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.
1095 The First Crusade
1231 – The church establishes the ‘Inquisition’ – In response to heresies against the church
doctrine. Pope Gregory IX (1227-41) took on the task of bringing the investigation of heresy under the discipline of the
Holy See/POPE. What we term the Inquisition is simply the ecclesiastical tribunal with specially appointed judges
(inquisitors) answerable to both the local bishop and the pope, whose task it was to investigate charges of heresy in a
systematic and fair way. The origin of this form of judicial inquiry, the inquisition, was not Church law, but Roman law as
incorporated into the procedures of civil and canon law alike. Pope Gregory wisely relied on the new mendicant orders,
the Franciscans and the Dominicans, to handle most of the inquisitorial work.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/status-inquisition-in-the-catholic-church.html
1347 – 1352 “The Black Death” named for the Bubonic Plague which over ran Europe.
-Effects
*1/3 of European people died from the plague caused by flees on rats.
*People were losing faith because of the black death and no cure.
* Mass was still in Latin – so people had a lack of understanding of the true meaning of the
Eucharist as the “Source and Summit of our Faith”
* people only received Holy Communion a couple of time a year.
* Priests during this time were not formally educated on doctrine
*church Papacy/Pope – The Vatican in Rome was experiencing difficulties in leadership.
1305-1418 Great Schism of the West
More to come…