3 Jan – Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer, in his papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, after Luther refused to recant his writings as required by the 1520 papal bull Exsurge Domine (1521).
6 Jan – Epiphany, the traditional date of the arrival of the Magi (Three Kings) to the Holy Family in Bethlehem. The traditional names of the Three Magi are Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar (4-6 BC).
8 Jan – American missionaries Jim Eliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian were killed by Huaorani (then known as “Auca”) Indians, at a sandbar on the Curary River (1956).
16 Jan – The English Parliament outlawed Roman Catholicism (1581).
16 Jan – Virginia enacted the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson (1786).
21 Jan – The Anabaptist movement began in Switzerland when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and several others baptized each other in Zurich. This state-independent “believer’s baptism” was inconsistent with the state sponsored and Catholic infant baptism, breaking a 1,000 year old tradition (1525).
28 Feb – Pope Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy, the first Pope to do so since Gregory XII in 1415 (2013). He was the first one to resign without outside pressure to do so since Celestine V in 1294.
Feb or Mar – Shrove Tuesday – the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Traditionally it is a time of self-examination and repentance for sin. It is called Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) in French because observants eat of the fat, rich food in the house in preparation for the Lenten season of prayer, fasting and repentance.
Feb, Mar and Apr – Lent – the forty days leading up to Easter beginning on Ash Wednesday. It is a time to exercise spiritual disciplines such as self-denial, silence, solitude, prayer, fasting, repentance, and giving to the poor.
1-20 Mar – The Uppsala Synod adopted the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Augsburg Confession (1530) as official doctrine for the Lutheran Church of Sweden (1593). Catholicism, Calvinism and Zwingliism were officially banned.
17 Mar – Saint Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, died in Ireland (461). St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world celebrating his life and work, introducing Christianity to Ireland.
20 Mar – St Cuthbert’s Day – Cuthbert (634-687) was a monk, hermit and bishop in Northumbria, England.
31 Mar – Bernard of Clairvaux preached his sermon at Vezelay, calling Christians to arms in the Second Crusade (1146).
8 Apr – Winchester Cathedral, the Anglican church that is the longest Gothic cathedral in Europe, was dedicated (1093).
Mar or Apr – Holy Week, the last seven days of Jesus’ life on earth, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday was Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Holy or “Spy” Wednesday was the meeting of the Sanhedrin to betray Him, Maundy Thursday was the Last Supper, and Good Friday was the day that Jesus was tried and crucified.
Mar or Apr – Passover, the Jewish celebration of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan.
Mar or Apr – Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. By convention established during the First Council of Nicea (325), Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the March equinox, which is traditionally 21 March.
Apr or May – Ascension Thursday celebrates the ascension of the Resurrected Christ from the Mount of Olives into heaven. It occurred 40 days after Easter.
Apr or May – Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the Christian Church. It occurs 50 days after Easter. Rather than celebrate Pentecost, followers of Judaism recognize this day as the culmination of the Festival of Weeks, celebrating the ingathering of the first fruits of the winter harvest.
2 May – Printer Robert Barker published the King James Bible in London (1611).
4 May – John Wycliffe declared a heretic and his writings banned posthumously by the Council of Constance. Later his remains were exhumed, burned, and cast into the River Swift (1415).
14 May – The Protestant Union, a coalition of German states including Anhalt, Ansbach, Baden-Durlach, Bayreuth, Brandenburg, Hesse-Kassel, Neuburg, Nuremburg, Palatinate, Strassbourg, Ulm and Wurttenberg, was founded to guard protestants and their interests (1608).
30 May – St. Joan’s Day – Joan of Arc (1412-1431) inspired the French forces to victory against the British in the Hundred Years War.
13 Jun – The Edict of Milan, issued by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius and establishing religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, was posted for public view in Nicomedia (313).
13 Jun – The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, establishing a precedent for married clergy in the Lutheran Church. The Roman Catholic Church, by contrast, required that priests remain unmarried (1525).
22 Jun – St. Alban’s Day – Alban of England (209-251) helped spread Christianity to Roman Britain.
6 Jul – John Hus, having been declared a heretic at the Council of Constance, was burned at the stake (1415).
15 Jul – St. Vladimir Day – Vladimir Sviatoslavich the Great (958-1015) was Prince of Novgorod and spread Christianity to the Rus people in 988.
28 Jul – Saint Alphonsa Day – Alphonsa Muttathupadathu (1910-1946) was a beloved teacher in a convent school and the first woman of Indian origin to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
31 Jul – St. Ignatius’ Day – Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became their first Superior General. He was a major force in the Counter Reformation.
4 Aug – The traditional date when the Romans under Titus destroyed the Second Jewish Temple, built during the time of Ezra (70).
19 Aug – The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Sergius, issued a Declaration proclaiming the absolute loyalty of the Church to the Soviet State and the government’s interests. This was in response to Communist persecution of believers (1927).
22 Aug – Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogotá, Columbia to become the first pope to visit Latin America (1968).
25 Aug – Kaiser Wilhelm II’s German troops destroyed the library at the Catholic University of Leuven, losing hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable documents (1914).
11 Sep – Moriscos. Spanish Moors that converted to Christianity, sometimes by force, were ordered to leave the country (1609).
14 Sep – Composer George Frideric Handel completed his oratorio, Messiah (1741). The famous work was first performed in Dublin, Ireland on 13 April 1742.
27 Sep – Jean Francois Champollion, a French philologist and orientalist, finished deciphering the Rosetta Stone, a stone including Greek, demotic script, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. This enabled scholars to understand hieroglyphics for the first time (1822).
28 Sep – St. Wenceslaus Day – Wenceslaus I (907-935) was the Duke of Bohemia and was known for acts of kindness to his people.
4 Oct – St Francis Day – Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) founded the Order of Friar’s Minor (men), Order of St. Claire (women), and Order of St. Francis (Franciscans). He traveled to Egypt in 1219 to try to convert the Sultan to end the Crusades, and in 1223 arranged the first nativity scene.
8 Oct to 1 Nov – The Council of Chalcedon adopts the Chalcedonian Creed, affirming and describing Jesus’ dual nature as fully human and fully divine (451).
11 Oct – Swiss Protestant pastor and reformer Huldrych Zwingli was killed in action fighting soldiers from Roman Catholic cantons (1531).
11 Oct – The Second Vatican Council, which heralded groundbreaking changes in the Catholic Church, began in Rome under Pope John XXIII. It ended in December 1965.
13 Oct – King Philip IV “The Fair” of France simultaneously imprisoned and later executed hundreds of men of the Knights Templar, effectively destroying the Order (1307).
18 Oct – Troops under Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah completely destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The Church had been built on the traditional site of the Resurrection and Burial of Christ (1009).
22 Oct – Saint John Paul the Great Day – Karol Jozef Wojtyla (1920-2005) was Pope from 1978 to 2005, improving the Church’s relationship with other faiths.
25 Oct – St Crispin’s Day – Saints Crispin and Crispinian, twin brothers, preached the gospel to the Gauls and supported themselves by making shoes in the 3rd century AD. They are the French Christian patron saint of cobblers, curriers, tanners and leather workers.
27 Oct – The traditional date in which the Roman Emperor Constantine was said to have received the Vision of the Cross (312). He later became the first Roman Emperor to legally recognize Christianity, though he did not make it the official religion.
10 Nov – St. Leo Magnus Day – Pope Leo Magnus (“The Great” – 400-461) met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to abandon his invasion of Italy. He also issued the Tome of Leo, which informed the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon.
15 Nov to 24 Dec (revised Julian and Gregorian calendar) – Nativity Feast, in which Christians in the Eastern Churches, especially Orthodox, prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Many orthodox churches continue to follow the Julian calendar, and the Nativity Feast begins on 28 Nov.
16 Nov – St Agnes Day – Agnes of Assisi (1197-1253) was a noblewoman and follower of St Francis of Assisi who became abbess of the Order of the Poor Ladies, providing charity in Assisi, Italy.
17 Nov – St. Gregory’s Day – Gregory of Tours (538-594) was Bishop of Tours and a historian of Roman Gaul.
29 Nov – American missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman, his wife Narcissa, and 15 others are massacred by Umatilla and Cayuse Indians in Oregon, resulting in the Cayuse War. 54 other women and children were captured and held fr ransom (1847).
Nov-Dec – Advent – Starting the fourth Sunday before 25 Dec, Advent is a four week season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus, the Incarnation of God. The first Sunday can be from 27 Nov to 3 Dec.
6 Dec – Sinterklaas Day – Also known as St. Nicholas Day, a Belgian and Dutch celebration in which children place shoes outside their door in the evening and find them filled with toys and treats in the morning. During WW2, the Royal Air Force dropped boxes of candy over occupied Netherlands on Sinterklaas Day (1941).
7 Dec – Greek Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I and Roman Catholic Pope Paul VI mutually lifted the orders of excommunication that were written in the Great Schism of 1054 (1965).
13 Dec – Santa Lucia Day – An Italian and Scandinavian holiday celebrating St. Lucy, A Sicilian martyr in the third century. In Sweden, the eldest daughter in a household wears a white robe, red sash, and crown of twigs and candles. Early in the morning she serves family members St Lucia (saffron) buns and drinks.
25 Dec – Birth of Jesus Christ celebrated (4-6 BC)
26 Dec – Boxing Day, a secular holiday in which traditionally bosses would give presents to their employees.
26 Dec – St. Stephen’s Day, honoring Stephen the Deacon and first Christian martyr as mentioned in the Book of Acts.
27 Dec – Pope John Paul II visited his would-be assassin, the Turk Mehmet Ali Ağca, in Rebibbia’s prison and forgave him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter’s Square (1983).
