Portal:Catholic Church/Selected anniversaries/May
Selected anniversaries in May
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May 1
- 601 - Death of Saint Asaph.
- 1987 - Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein (pictured) , a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
May 2
- 373 - Death of Athanasius (pictured).
- 1989 - Death of Giuseppe Siri.
May 3
- 1491 - Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga (pictured) is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
- 1606 - Death of Henry Garnet, English Jesuit.
- 1622 - Death of Pedro Páez, Spanish Jesuit missionary.
May 4
- 1256 - Augustinian monastic order constituted at Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV (pictured) issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae
- 1415 - Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus were condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
- 1493 - Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal via the papal bull Inter caetera.
- 2001 - Pope John Paul II follows Saint Paul's footsteps across the Mediterranean, from Greece to Syria to Malta.
May 5
- 553 - The Second Council of Constantinople begins.
May 6
- 1501 - Birth of Pope Marcellus II.
- 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, died fighting the forces of Charles V during the Sack of Rome in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape into Castel Sant'Angelo.
- 1574 - Birth of Pope Innocent X.
- 1638 - Cornelius Jansen, French bishop and religious reformer (b. 1585)
- 1708 - François de Laval, first bishop of New France (b. 1623)
- 1962 - St. Martín de Porres (pictured) becomes canonized by Pope John XXIII.
- 2001 - During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
May 7
- 1092 - Death of Remigius de Fécamp.
- 1274 - In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
- 1429 - Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning wounded to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
- 1999 - Pope John Paul II (pictured) travels to Romania becoming the first pope that had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
May 8
- 589 - Reccared summons the Third Council of Toledo
- 1786 - Birth of Jean Vianney (pictured).
- 1828 - Birth of Sharbel Makhluf.
May 9
- 328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria.
- 348 - Death of Pachomius.
- 1980 - The first meeting of Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury takes place in Ghana.
- 2002 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries.
May 10
- 1997 - Pope John Paul II visits Lebanon
May 11
- 1310 - 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics.
- 1610 - Death of Matteo Ricci.
- 2007 - Pope Benedict XVI canonizes the first Brazilian-born saint, Frei Galvão.
May 12
- 1003 - Death of Pope Silvester II
- 1012 - Death of Pope Sergius IV
- 1328 - Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
- 1982 - During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, decided that the Pope must be killed for being an "agent of Moscow."
May 13
- 1024 - Birth of Hugh of Cluny.
- 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
- 1568 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under her half-brother James Stewart, Earl of Moray.
- 1655 - Birth of Pope Innocent XIII.
- 1704 - Death of Louis Bourdaloue.
- 1792 - Birth of Pope Pius IX.
- 1926 - Death of Libert H. Boeynaems.
May 14
- 964 - Death of Pope John XII.
- 1905 - Birth of Jean Daniélou.
- 2005 - Pope Benedict XVI observes his first beatification, elevating Blessed Marianne of Molokai on the road to canonization into sainthood.
May 15
- 913 - Death of Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz.
- 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
- 1608 - Birth of René Goupil.
- 1699 - Death of Edward Petre.
- 1773 - Death of Alban Butler.
- 1891 - Rerum Novarum, the first document of the Catholic Social Teaching tradition is published by Pope Leo XIII.
May 16
- 1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
- 1611 - Birth of Pope Innocent XI.
- 1920 - In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc as a saint.
- 1936 - Birth of Karl Lehmann.
May 17
- 1592 - Death of Paschal Baylon.
- 1809 - Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
May 18
- 1550 - Death of Eric IX of Sweden.
- 1550 - Death of John, Cardinal of Lorraine.
- 1920 - Birth of Pope John Paul II.
May 19
May 20
- 325 - The First Council of Nicaea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church – is held.
- 1277 - Death of Pope John XXI.
- 1444 - Saint Bernardino of Siena.
- 1690 - England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Roman Catholic James II.
- 1825 - Death of Papaflessas.
- 1906 - Birth of Giuseppe Siri.
- 1927 - Death of Franciszek Macharski.
May 21
- 879 - Pope John VIII gives blessings to duke Branimir and to Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of Croatian state.
- 1972 - Michelangelo's Pietà, in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, is damaged by a vandal.
May 22
- 1377 - Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
- 1381 - Birth of Saint Rita of Cascia.
- 1457 - Death of Saint Rita of Cascia.
- 1667 - Death of Pope Alexander VII.
May 23
- 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne. (See Siege of Compiègne.)
- 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake, in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI
- 1533 - The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
May 24
- 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
- 1689 - The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants (Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded).
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