
The Roman Catholic Church has its beginnings in the Apostle Peter’s profession of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus then said to Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah because flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven. You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.”
Below are some of the highlights of Catholic history.
- Martyrdom of St. Stephen — c. 34 AD
- Council of Jerusalem — c. 50 AD
- Nero’s persecution of Christians begins – Rome burns — 64 AD
- Fall of Jerusalem — c. 70 AD
- St. John dies at Ephesus — c. 100 AD
- Edict of Milan — 313 AD — Constantine ends Christian persecutions
- First Council of Nicaea — 325 AD — Nicene Creed established
- St. Augustine — 354 – 430 AD
- Council of Rome — 382 AD — Canon of Scripture established
- Vulgate — St. Jerome’s Latin Bible published — 400 AD
- Council of Ephesus — 431 AD — Jesus is true God and true Man; Mary is Theotokos
- St. Benedict born — 480 AD — Father of Monasticism in the West
- Pope Gregory the Great. Reforms ecclesiastical structure and administration; establishes Gregorian chant — 590 – 604 AD
- Charlemange crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III — 800 AD
- East-West Schism – 1054 AD
- Crusades — 1095 – 1291 AD
- Inquisition — 13th – 15th centuries
- Lateran Councils — 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215 – Transubstantiation
- Fall of Constantinople — 1453 AD
- Columbus — 1492 AD
- Michelangelo completes Sistine Chapel ceiling — 1508 – 1512 AD
- Martin Luther — 1517 AD
- Our Lady of Guadalupe — 1531 AD
- Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII — 1538 AD
- Council of Trent — 1545 – 1563 AD
- Gregorian Calendar adopted — 1582 AD
- Pope Urban VIII solemnly dedicates the New Basilica of St. Peter 1,300 years after the first Constantinian basilica was consecrated by Pope Sylvester I.– November 18, 1626
- John Carroll becomes first bishop of Baltimore and first bishop in United States — 1789
- First Plenary Council of Baltimore – 1852 AD — Bishop John Joseph Chanche was Master of Ceremonies for the Council. He died after the meeting of cholera.
- Immaculate Conception — 1854 AD
- Our Lady of Lourdes — 1858 AD
- Our Lady of Fatima — 1917 AD
- Assumption of Mary — 1950 AD
- Second Vatican Council — 1962 – 1965 AD
- Revision of Roman Missal — 1970 AD
- Pope John Paul II — 1978 AD
- Third Christian Millennium — January 1, 2001
- Pope Benedict XVI — 2005 – First Pope to retire in centuries in Feb. 2013
- Pope Francis elected Pope — March 13, 2013 — First Pope from the New World