The document summarizes key events in Christian history from the fall of the Roman Empire to around 1000 AD. It describes how various barbarian tribes invaded the Western Roman Empire and brought it to ruin. It then discusses the rise of Islam under Muhammad and the Muslim conquests that threatened Europe. Key figures who helped defend Christianity during this period included Charlemagne, who established the Holy Roman Empire, and Pope Leo III. The document also notes the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054 and widespread end-of-the-world fears around the year 1000.

2. Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your faithful and
enkindle in them the fire of your love.
L – send forth your Spirit and new things will be
created.
R - and you will renew the face of the earth.
Let Us Pray:
O God, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, guide your
faithful to the light of truth, grant that we may be always
truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.

3. The Barbarians were north European populations.
 Around the year 400, they began to migrate southward looking for
new settlements, exercising an ever increasing pressure on the
Roman Empire, and eventually brought it to complete ruin.
 They were called Barbarians because of their rude behavior and
uncivilized culture.
The Visigoths
 Were the first Barbarians to defeat the Roman Army.
 After breaking through the northern borders, sacked Rome and left
it in ruins (410).
 However, showing great respect for the Church, they spared the
lives of those who took refuge inside the basilicas of Sts. Peter and
Paul.

5. The Vandals
 Made wars throughout France and Spain, inflicting destruction and
massacres.
 Eventually, they extended their cruel dominion over northern Africa.
St. Augustine died while the Vandals were laying siege to the city of
Hippo (429).
The most terrible Barbarians were the Huns,
 Who invaded and plundered the empire. When Atilla, feared as the
Scourged of God, was on the point of attacking Rome, Pope Leo the
Great challenged him with a cross and persuaded him to return to
his country(452).
 A tradition says that Atilla changed his mind when he saw behind
the Pope the threatening figures of Sts. Peter and Paul holding
flashing swords, determined to defend from heaven their Church on
earth.

6. The Longobards
 Made bloody raids throughout Italy, bringing along famine and
deadly pestilence (568).
 During a penitential procession, which Pope Gregory the Great
organized to beg mercy from the Lord, the people of Rome saw on
top of Castel Sant’Angelo a shining angel sheating his sword,
signifying that the pestilence was about to finish.
 In commemoration of that miracle the Pope erected a majestic
bronze statue which is visible until now.
During these troublesome years,
 The Church devoted herself to protect the people and to evangelize
the Barbarians. Eventually, they were converted to Jesus Christ and
purified their culture from brutality and cruelty.

7. Castel Sant’Angelo Bronze Angel

8.  The Son of a Roman senator, he
sold out his vast property when he
was 33 and gave all the money to
the poor.
 Elected Pope against his will, he
proved himself a brilliant and
loving shepherd.
 During the Lombard invasion of
Italy he organized charitable relief
and military resistance .
 Among his greatest successes are
the conversion of the Barbarians
and the reformation of the
Church’s liturgy and music with
his divine Gregorian Chant (⁺604).

9. These centers of Spirituality
and evangelization during
the barbarian invasions,
included all the necessities
of life within their
boundaries. The monastery
was like big family governed
by an abbot elected for life
by the monks. Central to a
monk’s life was the Divine
Office, which inspired
work, study, and private
prayer.

10. The Founder of the Benedictine
Monks, he was born from an
aristocratic family and educated
in the best schools of Rome. The
licentiousness of society led him
to abandon his riches and to
become a hermit in a mountain
wilderness . With a small
community of fellow monks, he
founded the Monastery of
Monte Casino in Italy (529),
whose life was synthesized in a
golden principle: Ora et Labora
(pray and work).

11. This unique hermit
lived for 37 years on
a pillar, practicing
fasting, penance,
and prayer.
Thousands of
pilgrims came from
far distances to
listen to his
inspiring words. His
total commitment to
God attracted the
highest veneration
of both Christians
and pagans (⁺459)

12. He spent his young life in
a dissolute and restless
search for the truth. At 32,
he was finally converted by
the tears of his mother
Monica and the homilies
of St. Ambrose, Bishop of
Milan. His spiritual
journey was recorded in
his autobiography, the
confessions, which is one
of the best-sellers of all
times.

13. In the City of God he
wrote that the fall of
Rome was not the fault
of the Christians but
the just punishment of
God for his vices and
sins. Appointed Bishop
of Hippo (Africa), he
proved himself an
excellent shepherd and
a brilliant writer. He
died while his town was
under siege by the
Vandals.

14. The religion of Islam, whose
members are called Muslims,
 Was founded in Arabia by
Mohammed in the year 622.
a merchant of Mecca.
 He was married to a rich
widow, who bore him seven
children. At the age of 40,
he said he had received
from Allah, through the
medium of the Archangel
Gabriel, the prophetic call,
which he wrote down in the
koran.

15. His preaching was met with indifference and opposition in
his hometown.
 So he migrated to Medina, where he succeeded to firmly
establishing Islam (662).
Mohammed based Islam on five pillars:
 Profession of faith in Allah and in Mohammed as his prophet; five
daily prayers facing towards Mecca and public prayer in the
mosque on Fridays; fasting during Ramadan from daybreak to
sunset; almsgiving; and pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime to
kiss the black stone in the Kabal.
 Soon Mohammed started preaching the necessity of the
holy war (Jihad) against the unbelievers.
 The people he met along the way, like Bedouins, Jews, and
Christians, had but one choice: to become Muslims or to be
exterminated. After the capture of Mecca, the Muslims, conquered
Arabia, Middle East, North Africa, and Spain (732).

16. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, built by the Muslim conquerors about the year 700
on the ruins of the Jewish Temple, is believed by them to be the place whence
Mohammed went to heaven.

17. The Christian in Europe were trembling.
 From all Churches prayers and supplications were raised to
implore protection and peace.
 It was Charles Martel, King of France, who stopped the Muslims’
advance in the battle of Poitiers (732)
Defeated in France, the Muslims attacked Italy from the
Mediterranean Sea.
 In 831, Sicily was captured. From there they prepared a great
attack on Rome.
 In 846, more than seventy ships, loaded with the ferocious
Muslim Saracens, reached the port of Rome, for what they
thought was the final blow to the Church.
 In that tremendous moment, the people joined the Christian
soldiers against the invaders. At the walls of Rome, the Muslims
were badly defeated and fled.

18. The spiritual center of Islam is the Great Mosque in Mecca. In its
court there is the Kaaba, the cubic structure which contains the
Black Stone.

19. The following year,
 The Saracens armed a more powerful fleet to attack Rome anew,
but were intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by the Christian
warships and annihilated.
 The Pope, to commemorate the salvation of Rome and of the
Church, presided over a thanksgiving procession throughout the
city.
Muslim Mosque
Muslim armies carried
with them a new
civilization characterized
by fine poetry, arts, and
architecture. They
introduced in Europe
advanced irrigation and
other agricultural
techniques, as well as the
decimal numerical
system and new
astronomical discoveries

20. Muslims pray to Allah five times
a day, facing in the direction of
Mecca
A chess game between a
Christian and a Muslim. This
popular game was probably
invented in ancient India and
exported into Europe by Muslim
invaders.

21.  after the ruin of the Roman Empire (476),
 The Church was hard pressed by many invaders, specially the
Longobards. Pope Stephen II crossed the Alps and appealed for
help to Pepin III. The King of the Franks accepted this noble
mission and came to the rescue of Rome.
 At the conclusion of a successful campaign against the
Longobards, the king, with the famous Treaty of Quierzy (754),
donated to the Pope a portion of central Italy, known as The
States of the Church.
The golden statue of Charlemagne

22. After the death of Pepin III,
 The Longobards tried again to take possession of Rome. This time
they had to face the new king of the Franks; Charlemagne .
As a powerful warrior and skillful politician,
 Charlemagne wiped away the Longobard Kingdom from the map
of Italy, halted the Viking sea raids in northern Europe, and
defeated the Muslims in Spain.
Charlemagne not only restored peace and independence
to the Church,
 But also promoted missions, arts, and schools. His first concern
was to create an educated clergy with proper understanding of the
Bible and of the Christian faith.
 Pope Leo III, on Christmas Day of the year 800, crowned him in
St. Peter’s Basilica as emperor of the newly founded Holy Roman
Empire

23. Charlemagne was indeed a great hero,
 Blessed with extraordinary faith and energy,
which he put at the service of the Church and of
all men.
 He attended Mass daily, prayed frequently , and
protected the poor. He will be remembered as an
upright emperor, a faithful friend, and a holy
Christian.

24.  The religious schism between
Rome and Constantinople took
place in the year 1054. the Papal
Nuncio marched into the
cathedral of St. Sophia in
Constantinople and placed on the
altar the bull of excommunication
against the Patriarch, Michael
Cerularius who, in return,
excommunicated Pope Leo XI.
This schism has persisted until
today. The Orthodox reject the
primacy of the Pope and allow
their priests to marry. They call
themselves Orthodox, which
means right teaching, insisting
their fidelity to the true faith of
the first seven ecumenical
councils.

25.  Panic spread throughout
Christianity around the year
1000. Many people believed that
the thousandth anniversary of
Jesus’ birth would mark his
second coming and the end of
the world. Their belief, caused
by a wrong interpretation of a
prophecy in the book of
Revelation (chapter 20), was
nurtured by a series of natural
and human made calamities
that characterized that age.
Huge crowds made public
display of repentance, while
thousands more went on
pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
That year passed without
mishap, but the appeal of
millennialism has tended to
spring up again in times of great
social change or crisis.

26.  One of the greatest
dangers for Christianity
were the Viking raiders.
They usually travelled long
distances in their
longboats in search of
plunder, and attacked by
night without warning and
with unbridled ferocity.
Churches and Monasteries
were among their main
targets. What they could
not use or understand they
destroyed and burnt,
including priceless
libraries. Some theologians
suggested that it was the
punishment of God for
widespread fornication
and corruption.

27. The Crusades were military expeditions organized by the
Church for the liberation of the Holy Land from Islam.
 The Muslim invaders not only had destroyed the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem , but also were persecuting the
Christians residing in Palestine and those who went there on
pilgrimage.
 The name crusade came from the fact that the Christians soldiers
wore big crosses on their uniforms and shields.
The First Crusade (1096-99)
 Called by Pope Urban II, was commanded by the legendary
Godfrey of Bouillon. While crossing mountainous Anatolia, the
army as attacked by the Muslim Turks.
 Despite the rain of arrows, the Crusaders held their ground and
routed the enemies.

28. Pope Urban II
launched the
First Crusade at
the Council of
Clermont(1095)

29.  After a bitter five-months siege, the fortress city of Antioch fell
to the Crusaders (1098).
 Inside the city they found the Holy Lance that had pierced the
side of Christ. Excited for the discovery, the Crusaders moved
out of the city and, after months of fierce fighting, reached the
walls of Jerusalem.
 A strict fast was ordered and, with the Muslims scoffing from
the walls, the entire army marched in solemn procession
around the walls till to the Mount of Olives. A few days later,
they successfully attacked and conquered the city (1099).
 The victorious Crusaders wanted to proclaim Godfrey of
Bouillon as king of Jerusalem but he refused, saying: I will not
wear a crown of gold in the city where our Lord wore a crown of
thorns. He took instead the modest title of defender of the Holy
Sepulcher.

30. The Holy Land was divided into Crusader State.
 Castles were built along the coast and the frontiers. New military
orders, like the Knights of Malta, the Templar's, and the Teutonic
Knights, were founded for the well-being of the Christians and
the protection of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.
In 1144, after the fall of Edessa, Pope Eugenius III called
for the Second Crusade
 And appointed St. Bernard as official preacher. Unfortunately,
the siege of Damascus was disastrous, and the crusade ended in
humiliating failure.
Shocked by the fall of Jerusalem
 Into the hands of Saladin (1187), Pope Gregory VIII called for the
Third Crusade. The death of their supreme commander,
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who drowned while attempting
to swim a river, broke the morale of the Crusaders and induced
many of them to withdraw.

31.  Those who remained, under the vigorous guide of Richard
the Lion-Heart, King of England, conquered the city of
Acre and the strategic island of Cyprus.
 After months of successful fighting, King Richard had to
return hastily to England to defend his crown from the
intrigues of his brother, leaving the Holy City still in
Muslim hands.
 Saladin, showing sincere chivalry, granted to unarmed
crusades free access to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in
Jerusalem.

32. The Fourth Crusade, launched by Pope Innocent III (1198),
 Was a complete disaster. The Crusaders were first forced by the
Venetians to help them capturing the city of Zara (1202), in lieu of
the payment for the ships they had ordered from Venice.
 Then, rather than proceeding to liberate Jerusalem, they mingled
in politics and captured Constantinople (1204), arousing the
hatred of the fellow Greek Christians and damaging the Byzantine
Empire beyond repair.
In the following years four major crusades were organized
to defend the Holy Land,
 But all of them failed. Acre, the last Christian outpost on Holy
Land, fell in 1291.the Christian castles along the coast were
systematically destroyed. It marked the end of the military
expeditions but not of the spirit of the Crusades, which is that of
voluntary commitment in the service of God and of his people.