Papacy
Pope Damascus (305-384)
Pope Damascus was a bishop of Rome through the middle of the fourth century. He was a proponent of the creation of the Vulgate bible, and was a major force in the creation of the Christian canon. He presided over the Council of Rome in 382; which was the governing body that sorted through and selected the canon.
Pope Leo I (400-461)
Pope Leo was a bishop of Rome in the mid-5th century. Pope Leo is a Doctor of the Church, and is one of the most influential popes in Catholic history. As Pope, Leo met with Attila the Hun and convinced him to retreat from Europe; Pope Leo also laid the foundation for the Council of Chalcedon.
Pope Gregory (540-604)
Pope Gregory was a bishop of Rome, and is known mostly for his organization of the largest religious mission in Christianity at the time: the Gregorian Mission. Pope Gregory is considered both a Father of the Catholic Church and a saint of the Catholic Church.
Pope Urban (1035-1099)
Pope Urban was a bishop of Rome and ruler of the Catholic state during the latter half of his life; Pope Urban’s greatest legacy is his initiation of the Crusades.
1AD to 1000AD
Constantine (272-337)
Constantine was the emperor of Rome from 306 to 337AD. Constantine not only was the first emperor of Rome to convert to Christianity, but normalized and permitted Christianity in Rome. He declared this in the Edict of Milan written in 313. Constantine created New Rome, and moved the capital to Constantinople. He ordered the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, becoming one of Christianity’s most revered holy sites. Constantine restructured all of Rome and created what is known as the Byzantine Empire.
Jerome (327-420)
Jerome was a 4th and 5th century historian and theologian who translated the bible into Latin, a work which is known as the Vulgate.
Augustine (354-430)
Augustine was an immensely influential philosopher and theologian who also served as the Bishop of Hippo until his death in 430. Augustine reinvigorated what it meant to be a Christian and what it meant to live a holy life. He played an influential role in understanding the role of sex and marriage within the Church for generations to come; he also was influential in laying down the philosophical basis of Original Sin, as well as the development of “Just War Theory.”
Pelagius (354-418)
Pelagius was a major theologian in the fourth and early fifth century, and in a philosophical sense was the antithesis to Augustine’s philosophical teachings. Pelagius was an advocate of free will, and denied Augustine’s thesis of Original Sin. Pelagius attracted a fair number of followers in parts of Europe, creating a movement known as Pelagianism. Pelagius would be deemed a heretic by the Council of Ephesus in 431.
Empress Theodora (500-548)
Empress Theodora was the Empress of the Byzantine Empire from 527-548, and wife to Emperor Justinian. She was a supporter of Chalcedonian Christianity.
1000AD to 2000AD
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Hildegard of Bingen was a German philosopher, composer, and polymath. She was a prolific writer and thinker in the 12th century; writing books such as Scivias, Liber Vitae Meritoriam, and Liber Divinorum Operum. Hildegard of Bingen played a role in consolidating Church teachings into canonical law.
Aquinas (1225-1274)
Thomas Aquinas was a philosopher, priest, and Doctor of the Catholic Church. He is among the most prominent influences unto the Church. Aquinas was a member of the philosophical school of scholasticism, and the founder of Thomism. Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologica, an amalgamation of all the teachings of the Catholic church. One of Thomas Aquinas’s greatest legacies is the way in which he tied reason and religion together as one force, an idea that had great influence during the enlightenment.
Julian of Norwich (1343-1416)
Julian of Norwich was an English woman who, for religious reasons, withdrew from English society during her lifetime. She wrote the book Revelations of a Divine Love, one of the first recorded English books to be written by a woman.
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
Catherine of Siena was a Dominican mystic, author, and Doctor of the Church. Catherine practiced asceticism, and wrote about her theology in her book, The Dialogue. She had also written, perhaps her most famous book, The Dialogue of Divine Providence in 1378. From an administrative standpoint, Catherine of Siena had major influence on Pope Gregory XI, and his reformation of the clergy and Papal State administration.
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Martin Luther was a theologian who played a major and central role in the Protestant Reformation, and the creation of Lutheranism. Raised in the teachings and practices of Augustine, Luther became a priest in 1507, and nailed his famous Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Catholic Church in 1517. As a result, he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and deteriorated the power the Church held over people, leading to a religious schism in different regions of the world.
Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531)
Ulrich Zwingli was a pastor and theologian who led the Swiss portion of the Protestant Reformation. Zwingli formed a coalition between those in Switzerland who wished to remain Catholic and those who wished for reform. In keeping the ideological divide together, Zwingli managed to prevent a civil war within Switzerland and initiate the Protestant Reformation throughout Switzerland.
Henry VIII (1491-1547)
Henry VIII was the King of England for the first half of the 16th century. He is perhaps most famously known for his failed attempts to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Henry VIII was unable to divorce his wife due to the fact that Pope Clement VII, head of the Catholic Church, would not let him. This led to the English Reformation and the birth of Anglicanism, as Henry VIII removed the Anglican Church from the rule of the papacy.
John Calvin (1509-1564)
John Calvin was a prominent theologian in the age of Martin Luther, as he was also a reformist during the Protestant Reformation. Calvin, a theologian, developed a branch of Protestantism called Calvinism. Calvinism preached ideas such as predestination; the idea that God already knows the fate of ones life before they live it, and that only God has the power to grant salvation.
John Wesley (1703-1791)
John Wesley was an English theologian and led a reform movement of the Church of England, and founder of Methodism. Wesley argued for the notion of Christian perfection, which argues that a perfect union with God can be achieved through pure love of God. Wesley also believed in predestination and was a critic of Calvinism.
Voltaire (1694-1778)
Voltaire was a French writer and philosopher who was integral to the thinking and philosophy of the Enlightenment Era. Voltaire was a prominent critic of the Catholic Church, and of Christianity as a whole. Voltaire was an advocate and promoter of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and the separation of church and state; his writings made him one of the first internationally successful writers. Due to his beliefs and success, he was often risking censorship from the Catholic Church and the French monarchy.
Napoleon (1769-1821)
Napoleon was Emperor of France and King of Italy from 1804-1815, and expanded the French Empire to one of the largest empires of the world. Napoleon’s Empire brought reforms to countries around the world, and his Napoleonic code has been introduced in legal institutions across innumerable countries. In a biography by Andrew Roberts, Napoleon, a Life (2014), Napoleon codified and instituted legal and institutional systems around the world to such an extent that a similar change had not been seen since the Roman Empire.
