2090 B.C. — A.D. 30

Biblical times

4–30

Jesus' life

30–600

The early Church

35–312

Age of Martyrs

600–1300

Papal rule

1054

Great Schism

1350–1700

European Renaissance

1377–1407

Great Papal Schism (struggle between Rome and Avignon)

1517–1648

Protestant Reformation

1542–1648

Catholic Counter-Reformation

1697–1790

The Enlightenment

1760–1914

The Industrial Revolution

2090 B.C.

God calls out to Abraham

1487 B.C.

Moses leads the Israelites out of bondage

1004 B.C.

King David rules Israel

858 B.C.

Elijah becomes a prophet of God

739 B.C.

Isaiah is a prophet of God

509 B.C.

Israel and Judah fall under control of the Roman Empire

37 B.C.

Herod captures Jerusalem

4 B.C.

Jesus is born

27

Jesus begins his ministry

30

Jesus is crucified; the Church is born at Pentecost

35

Conversion of Saul, who becomes St. Paul

42

Antioch is the center of Christian activity

70

Rome replaces Antioch as the center of Christian activity

99

Death of St. Clement, first Bishop of Rome and successor to St. Peter

100

Christianity becomes illegal in the Roman Empire

312

Constantine becomes emperor of Rome; his Edict of Milan stops persecution of Christians

325

The Nicene Creed is created at the Council of Bishops at Nicaea

381

Emperor Theodosius declares Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire

397

New Testament is formalized by bishops at Carthage

410

Rome falls

440–461

Pope Leo the Great steps into the power vacuum, providing both religious and political leadership

451

Council of Chalcedon; Pontiff at Rome asserts supreme authority

480

Establishment of the Benedictine order, which gives rise to other monastic orders

590

Pope Gregory I

751

Papal States are established and the pope is placed to rule over these territories

800

Charlemagne, King of France, is named Emperor of Romans

1054

Split between Latin-speaking Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church

1073

Pope Gregory VII centralizes control of Church with new theory of papal infallibility

1098–1099

First Crusade regains control of Jerusalem

1147–1187

Jerusalem is lost in Second Crusade

1189–1192

Third Crusade

1202–1204

Fourth Crusade

1212

St. Francis creates the first of the mendicant orders, the Franciscans. The Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians also arise in the 1200s

1224–1274

Life of St. Thomas Aquinas

1231

University in Paris gets papal charter; universities are set up throughout Europe

1232–1300

Pope Gregory IX attempts to counteract heresy by beginning the Inquisition

1301

King of France arrests the pope

1305–1378

Pope Clement V moves seat of papal power to Avignon

1377

Papacy returns to Rome, but a second pope is elected at Avignon

1417

Council of Constance ends Great Schism, Martin V is elected pope

1486

Start of the Spanish Inquisition

1517

Augustinian monk Martin Luther begins fighting the corruption of the Church

1540

Formation of the Jesuits

1543

Copernicus asserts that the Earth revolves around the sun

1544

Jesuit missionary work begins among pagan people of Japan, Africa, and North America

1545–1563

The Council of Trent

1559

John Calvin sends missionaries throughout Europe to convert Catholics to the new faith of Protestantism

1566

Pope Pius V standardizes Latin Mass

1632

Galileo supports Copernicus based on his observations through a telescope

1648

Jesuits Antony Daniel, Jean de Brebéuf, and Gabriel Lalemont become first martyrs in North America

1663

Monsignor François de Montmorency Laval is named Catholic bishop at Quebec

1789

French Revolution fractures the Church

1789

John Carrol becomes the first Bishop in the United States and creates the first diocese, the See of Baltimore

1814–1820

Second Spanish Inquisition

1869

Pope Pius IX calls the Vatican I Council, which strengthens the Church and rejects modernization

1891

Pope Leo XIII issues Rerum Novarum, an important encyclical on workers' rights

1959

Pope John XXIII announces he will call an ecumenical council

1962–1965

Second Vatican Council

1963

Pope John XXIII dies; Pope Paul VI is elected

1968

Pope Paul VI publishes encyclical on Humanae Vitae, birth control

1978

Pope Paul VI dies; Pope John Paul I is elected and dies shortly after; Pope John Paul II is elected

1981

Pope John Paul II publishes Laborem Exercens, on human work

1986

U.S. Catholic Bishops publish a pastoral letter “Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy”

1987

Pope John Paul II publishes Sollicitudo Rei Socialis on the social concerns of the Church

1995

Pope John Paul II publishes Evanelium Vitae, reiterating his stand on abortion, and Ut Unum Sint, renewing the Church's commitment to ecumenism

2000

Year of Jubilee