Dates to Remember

313—The Edict of Milan officially ended persecution of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

1054—The official date for the East–West schism; Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox split ways.

1095—Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade.

1378—The Great Papal Schism led to three different popes vying for supremacy; it launched a forty-year crisis of authority.

1517—Luther posted his 95 Theses and the Protestant Reformation began.

1534—King Henry VIII was declared “the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England” by the English Parliament.

1545—The Council of Trent began, responding to the Protestant Reformation; it defined the essence of Roman Catholicism until Vatican II.

1948—The World Council of Churches was founded.

1962—Vatican II began and brought changes to the Roman Catholic Church; an era of open dialogue with Protestants and people of other faiths was inaugurated.