#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>theologian<o>bishop<n>Augustine of Hippo<sur>Augustine<b>354 Nov 13<el>396<d>430 Aug 28<c>Carthage<mov>375(5)<c>Rome<mov>380(5)<c>Milan<mov>388(2)<c>Hippo<info>Saint Augustine was one of the foremost philosopher-theologians of early Christianity. He served as bishop of Hippo Regius, the leading figure in the church of North Africa. He had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Western thought and culture and, more than any other person, shaped the themes and defined the problems that have characterized the Western tradition of Christian Theology. Augustine was born at Thagaste in the Roman province of Numidia and educated at Carthage. He became a teacher of rhetoric in Carthage, in Rome, and finally in Milan. At Milan, in 386, Augustine underwent religious conversion. He retired from his public position, received baptism from Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, and soon returned to North Africa. In Thagaste, established a religious community dedicated to the intellectual quest for God. In 391, he was ordained to the priesthood in Hippo Regius; five years later he became bishop.<ref>Grolier
#e <t>pub<t>Christianity<n>Confessions<au>Augustine of Hippo<d>401
#e <t>writing<t>Christianity<d>420(7)<n>City of God<au>Augustine of Hippo<info>The City of God was Saint Augustine's answer to the pagan philosopher Volusanius's contention that the adoption of Christianity by Emperor Constantine had led to the Visigoths' sack of Rome in 410. In his lengthy philosophic treatise, Augustine dismisses the pagan position and instead interprets history in terms of Christian revelation. The work's most famous motif is that of the "two cities," the Christian city devoted to God, the earthly pagan city (Babylon) devoted to the devil; Babylon, a prey to moral confusion and strife, was slated ultimately for destruction.<ref>Grolier
#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<t>Christianity<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<t>Christianity<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.
#p <nat>French<o>pope<n>Clement VI<aka>Guy Le Gros Foulques<b>1291<el>1344<d>1352<c>Avignon
// 14th century
#e <t>decree<t>Christianity<d>1302<n>Pope's supremacy asserted<au>Boniface VIII<info>This papal bull ordered all Christians to recognise the supremacy of the pope in all matters. "Therefore we declare, state, define and pronounce that for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pope is altogether necessary for salvation." It was directed primarily at his enemies Edward I of England and Philip IV of France.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1303<n>Philip IV kidnaps pope<info>Philip IV of France plotted to kidnap Boniface and bring him to Paris. His troops stormed a palace where Boniface had gone to write an order excommunicating Philip. They held him for three days, until he was rescued. Boniface died a month later.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1309<n>Pope appointed in France<c>Lyons<info>A French-sponsored pope is crowned in Lyons and takes up residence at Avignon. This begins a 68-year absence of the pope from the Vatican.
#e <t>Christianity<n>Popes reside at Avignon<c>Avignon<d>1309<e>1377
#e <t>Christianity<d>1378<e>1417<n>Two popes<c>Europe<info>Rival popes exist during this period in Avignon and Rome. In 1378 rival groups of cardinals elected two popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon. The papacy was restored in Rome with a single pontiff in 1417.
#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 <o>priest<n>Ignatius Loyola<b>1491<d>1556<info>Loyola was the founder of the Jesuit order.
#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.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1517<n>Luther's petition<c>Wittenburg<au>Luther<info>Luther nailed a petition to the door of the cathedral in Wittenburg, Germany.
#e <t>meeting<t>Christianity<d>1408<e>1418<n>Constance Council<c>Constance<info>The Constance council attempted to deal with the scism in the Roman Catholic church.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1481<n>Spanish Inquisition<c>Spain<info>An inquisition is an independent court of the Roman Catholic Church. This inquisition was noted for its severities under the inquisitor-general Torquemada.
// 16th century
#p <nat>Italian<o>pope<n>Gregory XIII<aka>Ugo Buoncompagni<b>1502 Jan 1<el>1572 May 14<d>1585<c>Rome<info>Gregory XIII instituted the calendar we use today, the Gregorian calendar.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1542<n>papal inquisition<c>Rome<info>Pope Paul III launches a new inquisition.
#e <t>meeting<t>Christianity<d>1545<e>1563<n>Council of Trent<c>Italy<info>This general council of the Roman Catholic Church was held at intervals in Trent, Italy. It defined doctrine, reformed many abuses with the church, and condemned the teachings of the Reformation.
#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<t>Christianity<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<t>Christianity<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.
#e <t>meeting<t>Christianity<d>1512<e>1517<n>Fifth Lateran Council<c>Rome<info>This council was convened by pope Julius II.
#e <t>Christianity<d>1616 Feb 24<n>Copernican theory condemned<c>Rome<info>An investigation by the Vatican into the Copernican theory reports that the theory is "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical, inasmuch as it expressly contradicts the teachings of many passages of Holy Scriptures." In 1615, Galileo had been denounced as a heretic by the Inquisition for endorsing the Copernican heliocentric theory.
#e <t>meeting<t>Christianity<d>1618<e>1619<n>Synod of Dort<c>Dordrecht
// 18th century
#p <nat>English<o>pastor<n>John Wesley<b>1703<d>1791<info>founder of Methodism
