The History of the
Catholic Church
Church Foundation
• Jesus of Nazareth b. 4-6 B.C. to 31-36 A.D.
• Jesus was a practicing Jew
• No formal church organization
established by Jesus
(but Baptism and Eucharist instituted)
• Peter the Rock (Matt 16:18-19)
• Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20)
Peter the Rock
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says:
"And I say to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."
In the following verse 19, Jesus gives
Peter the keys to the kingdom:
"And I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven. And whatever
you shall bind on earth shall be
bound, even in heaven. And
whatever you shall loose on earth
shall be loosed, even in heaven.”
“Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 28:19 (NRSV)
Early Church
• Not much information outside of New Testament
• Church grew from about 120 to 3000 on Pentecost (Acts 1:26; 2:41)
• House churches—not much formal structure
• Ideally Goods held in common
• Bishops, Deacons in some dioceses
• Dispute resolution? No Bible until 4th c.
• Disputes sent to Peter or to Paul for resolution
• Controversy—relationship to Judaism
The Apostle
Paul
Christian Martyrs
“The Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”
– Tertullian, 197 A.D.
Martyrs of the 1st Century
Saint Stephen stoned c. 34 A.D.
James beheaded in 44 A.D.
Matthew killed with a halberd in 60 A.D.
James the Just beaten to death with a club
Saint Mark dragged in the streets until death
Saint Bartholomew flayed alive and crucified
Thomas killed by a spear in India in AD 72
Luke hanged
John not martyred--lived long life
Iconography
St. Stephen
St. Lawrence
Persecution
• Local and Sporadic in 1st – late 2nd c.
• General, organized persecution c. 250-313
• Why and how
Effect of Persecution
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Early Saints basically all martyrs
Imitation of Christ
Strengthened resolve of Faithful
Attracted converts
Christianity Legalized
• Constantine’s dream
• Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312
• Edict of Milan in 313 legalizes
Christianity
• Christianity becomes favored
religion
The Emperor Constantine
•Legalized Christianity in 313
•Was baptized on deathbed (337)
•His mother Helena was a Christian
and is a Saint. Collected relics (true
cross and nails) and established
churches on holy sites
New Capital of Roman Empire
In 323 AD
Constantine
moves his capital
from Rome to
Byzantium and
renames it
Constantinople.
Council of Nicea
• Presided over by Constantine in 323
• Held in Nicea (Bithnia) in Turkey
• Established date for Easter and created the
original Nicene Creed in an attempt to settle
the debate about the divinity of Christ
(Arian Heresy)
Nicene Creed
I believe in one God,
The Father almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
Of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father,
through him all things were made,
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
And by the Holy spirit
was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son
is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy,
catholic and apostolic Church,
I confess one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection
of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Early Christian Buildings
The New “Legal” Church
• First Public Christian buildings
• No persecution and favored status causes great
growth
• Many lack the zeal and conviction of early Christians
– Hermits and early forms of monastic life
• Doctrinal Disputes (Early Heresies)
– Arianism –Christ was first created being, not divine
– Donatism—no forgiveness for apostates, sacraments
linked to holiness of minister
Early Monasticism
in Egypt
St. Anthony of the Desert
251-356 , popularized by
Bishop Athanasius
Latin Doctors (4th - 5th c.)
• St. Ambrose c. 340-397
Bishop who helped lead St. Augustine to Christianity
• St. Jerome c. 347-420
Translated the Bible into Latin—the Vulgate
• St. Augustine 354-430
Giant of Christian theology.
St. Augustine
of Hippo
d. 430
“Our hears are restless
until they rest in you—
oh, God!”
Late Antiquity to Early Middle Ages
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Christianity influence Roman Society
Roman Society influences Christianity
Rome sacked in 410 and 455
Imperial power declines (476)
Power of church grows in power vacuum
Wealth of church grows
St. Benedict
•Founded a monastery at Montecassino, Italy in 529
•He wrote “Rule of St. Benedict”
•Based on a strong abbot and a daily pattern of periods of liturgical
prayer, manual labor and rest.
•By 800, this was The Rule almost all monastic communities followed
Evangelization of Europe
• Theodosius makes Christianity official religion of empire in 389.
• In 4th c. Germanic tribes converted to Arianism and reconverted
to orthodoxy in 6th c.
• Franks (Gaul/France) converted around 500.
• Ireland converted by St. Patrick in 5th c.
• Gregory I sends missionaries to England to reconvert it in 597.
• Pope Gregory encouraged missionaries to convert pagan
festivals and practices into Christian ones.
• By 1000 Catholic Christianity existed virtually everywhere in
Europe—Hungary, Scandinavia, Poland being some of the last to
convert.
Pope Gregory and the Anglo-Saxon Children
Europe and the Mediterranean in 800
The Crowning of Charlemagne
by Pope Leo III in 800
The 9th –11th Centuries
• In 800 the Pope crowns Charlemagne the new Holy
Roman Emperor.
• After Charlemagne’s death, violence and corruption
in church and state.
• No protection for church means powerful families vie
for papal power
• Vikings and Magyars attack monasteries
• Monastic Reforms—Cluniac, Carthusian and
Cistercian
St. Bernard of
Clairvaux
Founder of the Cistercian Order
in the 12th century and very
important Catholic thinker,
writer and mystic.
The Gregorian Reform
and the Investiture Controversy
(11th-12th c.)
• Opposes clerical marriage
• Opposes simony
• New method for electing pope—by cardinals only
• Opposes lay investiture
• Concordat of Worms in 1122
Walk to Canossa in 1077
Henry IV penitent before Pope
Gregory VII
The Great Schism –1054 to ?
Christianity dividing into Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin)
branches that would later form the Eastern Orthodox Church
and the Roman Catholic Church. The two sides had always had
their differences in the past centuries before the schism.
Issues in Contention
between Roman & Eastern Orthodox Church
Filioque should the Nicene Creed include “and from the son”
Bread leavened or unleavened bread used in the Eucharist
The Pope the Pope's claim to universal jurisdiction
Constantinople v. Rome where is center of Christianity?
Easter Which date?
Language Greek or Latin?
Movement toward Reconciliation
Pope Francis with Patriarch
Bartholomew I