#p <nat><o>bishop<n>Saint Nicholas<b>270(2)<d>343 Dec 6<c>Myra<info>Nicholas was a victim of the Roman persecution against all Christians. He later participated in the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. The generous Nicholas is the antecedant of the Dutch Saint Nicholas legend after whom Santa Claus was fashioned.
#p <nat>Greek<o>bishop<n>Eusebius Pamphili<sur>Eusebius<b>270<d>341<c>Alexandria<info>Eusebius was a bishop of Caesarea. He baptised Constantine the Great.
// different (?) from Eusebius, d. 341, bishop of Constantinople and Nicomedia, a leader of the Arians
#p <nat>Greek<o>bishop<o>theologian<n>Athanasius<b>293<d>373<c>Alexandria<info>Athanasius was the bishop of Alexandria. He was a champion of orthodoxy against Arian attacks on the doctrine of the trinity, and is called the "father of orthodoxy."
#p <nat>Carthaginian<o>monk<n>Augustine of Hippo<sur>Augustine<b>354<d>430 Aug<c>Hippo
#e <t>pub<n>Confessions<au>Augustine of Hippo<d>401<c>Hippo
#p <nat>Celt<o>priest<n>Saint Patrick<aka>Patricius<b>385<d>461<c>Britain<mov>401<c>Ireland<mov>407<c>Britain<mov>432<c>Ireland<info>Patrick was a teenaged Celt living in Britain when he was kidnapped in A.D. 401 by Irish slavers. He escaped back to Britain in 407, but returned again to Ireland as a missionary in 432.
#e <t>decree<d>303<c>Rome<n>Diocletian orders persecution<au>Diocletian<info>The Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered a brutal persecution of all Christians.
#e <t>meeting<d>325 May 20(10)<e>325 Jul 25(10)<n>Coucil of Nicaea<c>Nicaea
#e <t>Christianity<d>325 Jul 25<n>Nicene Creed<c>Nicaea<info>The Coucil of Nicaea issued what we now call the Nicene Creed as a summary of their deliberations.
// 6th century
#p <nat>Italian<o>pope<n>John I<d>526
// 7th century
#p <nat>Roman<o>priest<n>Saint Augustine<d>604<c>Rome<mov>596<c>England<info>Augustine was a Roman missionary to England, and the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
#e <t>trans<au>Bede<n>Part of Gospel of John in Anglo-Saxon<d>715(20)
// 9th century
#e <t>meeting<d>816<n>Council of Chelsea<info>This council established the A.D. dating system for ecclesiastic use.
// 12th century
#p <nat>Spanish<o>friar<n>Saint Dominic<b>1170<d>1221<info>Dominic founded the Dominican Order.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1127<n>Bible divided into chapters<info>by Cardinal Hugo
// 13th century
#p <nat>Italian<o>pope<n>Clement IV<d>1268 Nov 29<info>Clement IV was succeeded by Gregory X.
// 14th century
#e <t>Christianity<n>Popes reside at Avignon<c>Avignon<d>1309<e>1377
// 15th century
#p <nat>Swiss<o>priest<n>Ulrich Zwingli<b>1481 Jan 1<d>1531 Oct 11<info>Zwingli was a leader of the Swiss Reformation. He became a priest in Glarus (1506-16) and accompanied Swiss mercenary troops as chaplain on various Italian campaigns, becoming convinced that the mercenary system was a great evil. From Glarus, Zwingli went to Einsiedeln as parish pastor, where he continued his studies of the Bible, church fathers, and the classics. He was strongly influenced by Desiderius Erasmus in favor of church reform. In 1519, Zwingli began his duties as the people's priest of the Grand Minster in Zurich, where he preached powerful sermons based on the Scriptures, denounced the mercenary trade, dropped his own papal subsidy, and attacked ecclesiastical abuses. Trouble developed with the bishop of Constance in 1522 when several of Zwingli's associates ate meat on a fast day. Moreover, Zwingli married and thus broke his priestly vow of celibacy. In 1524 iconoclasts removed religious statuary from the church, and the next year the Catholic mass was replaced with a Zwinglian communion using both bread and wine as symbols of Christ's body and blood. Zwingli's Sixty-seven Articles (1523) for disputation became a basic doctrinal document for the Swiss reformed church. Zwingli was active in extending the reform to other Swiss cities, such as Basel, Sankt Gallen, and Bern. He was involved in controversy not just with Catholic opponents, but also with the Lutheran reformers because he denied Christ's real presence in any form in the Eucharist. The effort to reconcile the views of Zwingli and Luther at the Colloquy of Marburg (1529) failed. Zwingli also opposed the Anabaptists in Zurich who rejected infant baptism. He was killed on the battlefield of Kappel in 1531 when the Catholic cantons of southern Switzerland attacked Zurich.<ref>Grolier
#p <nat>German<o>monk<o>theologian<n>Martin Luther<b>1483<d>1546<info>In 1517, Martin Luther nailed a petition to the door of the cathedral in Wittenburg, Germany. He was excommunicated by pope Leo X in 1520.
// 16th century
#p <nat>Italian<o>pope<n>Gregory XIII<b>1502<d>1585<info>Gregory XIII instituted the calendar we use today, the Gregorian calendar.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1553 Oct 27<c>Geneva<n>Servetus burned as a heretic<info>Michael Servetus was burned as a heretic on this day.
#e <t>writing<d>1561<n>Belgic Confession<c>Southern Netherlands<info>This confession was written by Guido de Brès, a preacher of the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands, who was martyred in 1567. In 1562 a copy was sent to King Philip II.
#e <t>pub<d>1563 Jan<n>Heidelberg Catechism<c>Heidelberg<info>It was prepared for Elector Frederick III, who ruled the Paltinate from 1559 to 1576. He prefaced it on January 19, 1563, and it was adopted by a synod in Heidelberg that same month.
