Catholicism

(I compiled this for my own little study and for a friend ... I compiled the information from different sources.)

May Mother Mary pray to God for me that I can learn something from this little study that I do.

2nd century Christians venerated Mary by calling her Mother of God, a title that primarily stresses the divinity of Jesus. The holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher, Tertullian, and St Irenaeus of Lyons magnify the All-holy Virgin Mary; they recognize her significance for all mankind as the second Eve.

St. Irenaeus (130-202), in his famous Against Heresies (bet. 180-199) wrote:
. . . so also Mary . . . being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race . . . Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith.

3rd Century Origen, Saint Gregory the Wonderworker and the holy Martyr Methodius of Patara commemorate the "blessedness" of the All-holy Virgin as her glorification.

4th century Theotókos (Mother of God)came to be used for Mary and it helped to define the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ.

Mary was also affirmed as Virgin Mary during this time, and this stressed the belief that God, and not Joseph, was Father of Jesus. This conviction was expressed clearly in the 4th century, baptismal creeds of Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, and Armenia.

Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus, confirming the honour accorded the All-holy Virgin as "the Mother of Life and of all the living," in his time fought against some Mary-worshipping heretics, the "Lappiditrians." "Mary is not God," he said, "We must honour Mary. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit we must render worship, but no one must worship Mary."

St. Jerome (c.343-420)
Death came through Eve, life through Mary.

5th Century In 431, the Council of Ephesus condemned Nestorian heresy (that within Jesus are two distinct persons) and solemnly affirmed that Mary is to be called theotókos, a title that has been used in Catholicism till today.

the Feast of the Assumption of Mary was celebrated in Syria.

6th Century The Feast of the Assumption was celebrated in Jerusalem (and perhaps even in Alexandria).

7th Century It came to be understood that the title aieiparthenos (ever-virgin), came to include the conviction that Mary remained a virgin for the whole of her life.

680 AD : A Roman Council spoke of her as the "blessed, immaculate ever-virgin."

Clear and explicit testimony was given on the Assumption of Mary in the Eastern Church. The same testimony is clear also in the Western Church (Gregory, Tours, 538-594)

4th - 7th centuries feast days in honor of the events of Mary's life came into existence.

787 A.D. The Second Council of Nicaea, the seventh Ecumenical Council, which is fully accepted by the Orthodox, declared:
The Lord, the apostles and the prophets have taught us that we must venerate in the first place the Holy Mother of God, who is above all the heavenly powers . . . If any one does not confess that the holy, ever virgin Mary, really and truly the Mother of God, is higher than all creatures visible and invisible, and does not implore, with a sincere faith, her intercession, given her powerful access (parrhésia) to our God born of her, let him be anathema.

9th century the Feast of the Assumption was celebrated in Spain.

12th Century Record in many churches of a Feast of the Conception of Mary in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Normandy.

The Feast of the Assumption was celebrated in the city of Rome, and in France.

13th -15th century Late Middle ages. Devotion to Mary grew dramatically. Mary was increasingly venerated in popular piety as mediator of the mercy of Christ. Among the popular devotions that came into being at this time were the Rosary.

1477 Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, established the Immaculate Conception in 1477 with a feast of with a proper mass and office to be celebrated on December 8. This is stilll celebrated today by Catholics in the world.

1854 Pope Pius IX issued a solemn decree defining the Immaculate Conception for all Roman Catholics