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451
The Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon met in AD 451 in Chalcedon, a city in Asia Minor. The council’s ruling was an important step in further clarifying the nature of Christ and the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. The council also laid the groundwork for one of the most significant events in ecclesiastical history -
Dec 24, 1054
The East-West Schism
Causes of the schism included political, cultural, economic, and social as well as theological differences that originated before 1000. The political unity of the Mediterranean world was shaken and finally destroyed through the barbarian invasions in the West and the rise of Islam in the East. -
Dec 24, 1347
The Black Death Plague
The disease - later called the Black Death (because of the dark patches on the skin caused by subcutaneous bleeding) was probably Bubonic Plague. Bubonic plague is carried by black rats, and spread to humans by the fleas that infest them.When the plague arrived, people believed it to be a punishment of God. -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther's 95 Theses
His “95 Theses,” which propounded two central beliefs—that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds.Acting on this belief, he wrote the “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” also known as “The 95 Theses,” a list of questions and propositions for debate. -
Period: Dec 13, 1545 to Dec 4, 1563
The Council of Trent
1540 (the founding of the Jesuit order) and 1545 (the opening of the Council of Trent) marked the beginning of the Catholic Reformation, also known as the Counter-Reformation.The Council of Trent was called by Paul Ill who was pope from 1534 to 1549 and it first sat in December 1545. It was finally disbanded in 1563.
700 bishops could have attended the Council but to start with only 31 turned up along with 50 theologians. By 1563, a total of 270 bishops attended. -
Sep 25, 1555
Peace of Augsburg
Enacted by the imperial diet (the general assembly of the Estates of the Holy Roman Empire) at Augsburg in 1555, the Religious Peace was the most significant law created in the Holy Roman Empire between the Golden Bull of 1356 and the Peace of Westphalia of 1648.. The Religious Peace, which aimed to neutralize the danger of war that arose from the schism, governed official relations between the Catholic and Protestant imperial Estates until the opening of the Thirty Years' War in 1618 -
Period: to
The Fist Vatican Council
This council was summoned by Pope Pius IX by the bull Aeterni Patris of 29 June 1868. The first session was held in St. Peter's basilica on 8 December 1869 in the presence and under the presidency of the Pope.The council was convened Dec. 8, 1869, in St. Peter's, and it was attended by some 600 of the higher clergy from all over the world.The Protestants were officially informed. Late in 1870 the council was brought to a halt by the entrance of Italian soliders into Rome. -
Period: to
The Second Vatican
On October 11, 1962, the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the XXI Ecumenical Council of the Church solemnly began. During the night, it had continuously rained, but in the morning, the sky was again serene and the long cortege of 2,400 Priests in Saint Peter's Square entered the basilica.On December 8 Paul VI closed Vatican II. He communicated the difficult and delicate phase of fulfilling it.
