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History of the Roman Catholic Church

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The History of the Roman Catholic Church covers a period of just under two thousand years, making the Church one of the oldest religious institutions in history. As one of the oldest branches of Christianity, the history of the Roman Catholic Church plays an integral part of the History of Christianity as a whole.

The history of the Catholic Church is vast and complex, covering many different eras in which the Church itself underwent radical and widespread changes. However, the modern day Roman Catholic Church claims to be basically unchanged in its substantial teachings and organisation from the original church of the first century, although some would dispute that.

Over time the Roman Catholic Church has parted ways with other religious groups, the two most important being Orthodox Christianity and the movement of Protestantism. The Catholic Church has been the moving force in some of the major events of world history including the Evangelization of Europe and Latin America, the spreading of literacy and the foundation of the Universities, monasticism, the development of Art, Music and Architecture, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and analytical philosophical method.

The various ages of the history of the Roman Catholic Church are as follows.

Contents

Prologue: The ministry of Jesus of Nazareth (c. 4 BC – AD 33)

Jesus of Nazareth
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Jesus of Nazareth

The Roman Catholic Church was founded on the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, known as Jesus Christ, "Christ" meaning the same as "Messiah". Jesus was a carpenter from the region of Galilee and observed the Jewish faith. Roman Catholicism thus considers itself a successor religion to Judaism with the Christian God and the God of the Jews seen as one and the same.

Some suppose that Jesus, when twelve years old, experienced a revelation in Herod's Temple in Jerusalem, realizing that he was the Son of God. This is an interpretation of the episode recounted in Luke's Gospel (Luke 2:41-50): when found there after being missing for three days, he responded to his mother's complaint with a question translated as either "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" or "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?"

When Jesus was about thirty years of age (Luke 3:23), he left the town of Nazareth and began a ministry of preaching and miraculous healing. In his preaching, he called for repentance (Mark 1:15), presenting God as a loving Father always ready to forgive. He also called on people to imitate the goodness and love of God towards all. He gained a following of people who saw him as a Rabbi, and in some cases wondered if he could be the Messiah; but he provoked the opposition of the religious leadership, who saw his teaching as contrary to traditional doctrine and practice, and felt that his hints about his own personal identity were blasphemous.

The final days of Jesus occurred in Jerusalem when Jesus was approximately in his mid 30s. Arrested by the Sanhedrin and charged with blasphemy, Jesus proclaimed himself the Messiah to the Sanhedrin, and he was handed over to authorities of the Roman Empire, who ruled the region as Iudaea Province, and who sentenced him to death after much persuasion from Jewish authorities. So began the Passion of Christ where Jesus was scourged, beaten, and crucified.

Some of his followers were convinced that, three days after Jesus died, he rose from the dead and sought them out. To Simon Peter, Jesus had earlier stated that he would entrust to him the keys to Heaven and that upon the rock of Peter he would found his Church. The Roman Catholic Church sees its history as beginning at this point, with Saint Peter as the first Pope.

Key Dates

Although the calculations of Dionysius Exiguus put the birth of Jesus in the year that in consequence is called AD 1, history places his birth more likely some time between 6 and 4 BC.

Jesus Christ dies on the cross
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Jesus Christ dies on the cross
  • c. AD 30: Major preachings of Jesus, such as the Sermon on the Mount. The teachings of Jesus were later spread by several Apostles, and formed much of the material of the Gospels.
  • c. AD 33: Jesus of Nazareth is crucified by Roman Empire authorities after Jewish leaders in Jerusalem accuse Jesus of blasphemy. He is believed to have been raised from the dead by God three days later, and to have instructed his followers to baptize and form disciples who would constitute his Church, with Saint Peter as its leader, a position that passed to the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope.

Early Catholic Church (34 AD – 313 AD)

Key dates

  • c. 55 - 67 AD: The ministry of Paul of Tarsus , a convert who proclaimed himself "Apostle to the Gentiles" equal to the 12 apostles in the immediate circle of Jesus, in opposition to James the Just in Jerusalem and the Jewish Christians. He travelled the Eastern Mediterranean preaching and proselytizing.
Religious vision of Constantine
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Religious vision of Constantine
  • c 110: Ignatius of Antioch uses the term Catholic Church in a letter to the church at Smyrna (Date disputed, some insist it was a forgery written in 250 or later. Others insist he merely meant "catholic", small "c", as in Universal.) He is also believed to be the first to advocate rejection of the Sabbath.
  • c 150: First known versions of the Vetus Latina are circulated among Christian communities: these Latin translations of Koine Greek and Hebrew scriptures will become the foundation for the later formation of the Bible.
  • January 20, 250: Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred during this purge; afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
  • October 28, 312: Emperor Constantine leads the forces of the Roman Empire to victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. According to Church tradition, the night before the battle Constantine had a vision that he would achieve victory if he fought under the Symbol of Christ. After winning the battle, under which his soldiers had bore the Christian Cross on their shields, Constantine converted to Christianity, though he wasn't actually baptized till just before death.

Church of the Roman Empire (313 AD – 476 AD)

Key Dates

  • 313: The Edict of Milan declares the Roman Empire neutral towards religious views, in effect ending the persecution of Christians.
  • 321: Granting the Church the right to hold property, Constantine donates the palace of the Laterani to Bishop Miltiades, with its Basilica of San Giovanni for his episcopal seat.
  • c 325: The Arian controversy erupts in Alexandria, causing widespread violence and disruptions among Christians, inspiring Constantine to evoke
  • November 24, 380: Emperor Theodosius I is baptised a Christian and declares Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.
  • 391: The Theodosian decrees outlaw most Pagan rituals still practed in Rome, thereby encouraging much of the population to convert to Christianity.
  • 431: The Council of Ephesus declares that Jesus existed both as Man and God simultaneously, clarifying his status in the Holy Trinity. The meaning of the Nicene Creed is also declared a permanent holy text of the early church.

Church of the Early Middle Ages (476 AD – 800 AD)

Key Dates

  • 502: Pope Symmachus ruled that laymen should no longer vote for the popes and that only higher clergy should be considered eligible.
  • 642: Egypt falls to the Muslims, followed by the rest of North Africa.
  • 726: Iconoclasm begins in the eastern Empire. The destruction of images persists until 843.
  • 756: Popes granted independent rule of Rome by King Pepin the Short of the Franks.
  • 793: Sacking of the monastery of Lindisfarne marks the beginning of Viking raids on Christian Europe.

Church of the High Middle Ages (800 AD – 1499 AD)

  • 829: Ansgar begins missionary work in Sweden near Stockholm.
  • 910: Great Benedictine monastery of Cluny rejuvenates western monasticism. Monasteries spread throughout the isolated regions of Western Europe.
  • 1003: Pope John XVII dies 5 months after installation, making this year one of the few when 3 legitimate popes reigned.
  • 1054: Liturgical and other divisions cause a permanent split between the Eastern and Western Churches, known as the Great Schism.
Notre-Dame Cathedral - designed in the Gothic architectural style.
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Notre-Dame Cathedral - designed in the Gothic architectural style.

Church of the Renaissance (1500 AD – 1629 AD)

Church of the Age of Reason (1630 AD – 1799 AD)

19th Century Catholic Church (1800 AD – 1899 AD)

20th Century Catholic Church (1901 AD – 2000 AD)

21st Century Catholic Church (2001 AD – PRESENT)

Benedict XVI, the first Pope elected in the 21st century
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Benedict XVI, the first Pope elected in the 21st century

The Roman Catholic Church began the 21st century by celebrating the third Christian millennium with the motto "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."

It faces the challenge of upholding its religious doctrine in a typically liberal society, in which it comes under heavy criticism from some quarters for its traditional teaching on such issues as birth control, abortion, and women in the priesthood.

While still maintaining that the Church "is necessary for salvation", and that "they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it",[1] it continues its dialogue with other religious traditions, even outside Christianity, in search of greater mutual understanding and in the hope of attaining greater visible unity among Christians..

It suffered a major scandal in the United States of America when, in 2002, widespread reports began to circulate of several priests who had been involved in molesting teenagers and in child abuse.

In the spring of 2005, the Roman Catholic Church was placed in the centre of world attention following the death of Pope John Paul II. In the age of modern media, the Pope's death and funeral were broadcast for the world, while millions of Catholic pilgrims journeyed to Rome to pay final respects.

Key Dates

  • January 1, 2001: The 21st century and the new millennium begin. The Church solemnizes the start of the third Christian millennium by extending into part of the year 2001 the jubilee year that it observes at 25-year intervals and that, in the case of the year 2000, it called the Great Jubilee.
  • April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II dies at the age of 84. His funeral is broadcast to every corner of the globe through the modern media. Millions of Catholic pilgrims journey to Rome, Italy to pay final respects.

See also