| 1920 | March 10 | Marcial Maciel Degollado is born in Cotija de la Paz,
Michoacán, México. |
| 1926 | Final months | The Cristero war breaks out in Cotija and other states of
the Mexican Republic. |
| 1928 | February 10 | José Sánchez del Río is killed in Sahuayo, Michoacán. |
| 1929 | Summer | Cristero War ends. |
| 1935 | May | Marcial discovers that God is calling him to be a priest. |
| 1936 | January 3 | Marcial leaves home for the seminary. |
| January 6 | Marcial enters Veracruz' minor seminary in Mexico City. |
| June 19 | Marcial receives the call to be a founder in the chapel of
Veracruz' minor seminary (Atzcapotzalco neighborhood, Mexico City). |
| 1937 | Feb. - March | On vacation, seminarian Marcial Maciel actively participates
in the definitive re-opening of the churches in several towns and cities of
Veracruz. After vacation Marcial is transferred to another house of the seminary of
Veracruz, in Mixcoac, Mexico City. First attempt at founding with a group of
fellow seminarians. |
| 1938 | June 6 | Rafael Guízar Valencia, bishop of Veracruz and Marcial's
great-uncle, dies. |
| | Marcial enters Montezuma seminary (New Mexico, USA) to
continue his studies. Second attempt at founding. |
| 1940 | |
Marcial departs from Montezuma and begins studying in Mexico
City under Francisco González Arias, bishop of Cuernavaca. |
| October | Cotija de la Paz: Marcial's third attempt. He founds the
"Immaculate Conception Apostolic School" in his hometown with a group of
adolescents who want to be priests. |
| 1941 | January 3 | Founding of the Missionary Apostolic School of the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the borrowed basement of a house at 39
Turín Street, Mexico City. The Legionaries of Christ consider this their
foundation date. |
| Early May | The nascent congregation moves to a newly-bought house,
their first, at 21 Victoria Street, Tlalpan, Mexico City. |
| 1944 | | Move to a new house at 12 Madero Street, Tlalpan, Mexico
City. |
| November 26 | Marcial Maciel is ordained a priest in the old Our Lady of
Guadalupe Basilica on Tepeyac Hill, Mexico City. |
| 1946 | March 25 | The novitiate is founded in a new house next door to the
apostolic school, at 10 Madero Street. |
| June 12 | Rome: Father Maciel's first audience with Pope Pius XII. |
| September | The first group of future Legionaries goes to Spain to begin
studies at the Pontifical University of Comillas. |
| 1948 | May 25 | The Holy See grants canonical approval to the congregation
with the nihil obstat. |
| June 13 | Canonical establishment of the Missionaries of the Sacred
Heart and the Virgin of Sorrows (Legionaries of Christ) by Alfonso Espino y
Silva, bishop of Cuernavaca. |
| 1950 | Fall | Inauguration of the Legion of Christ's major seminary
(Colegio Mayor) in Rome, currently the general directorate of the
Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement. |
| 1954 | February | The Cumbres school, the Legion of Christ's first work of
apostolate, opens in Mexico City. |
| 1956 | Fall | The "Great Blessing" begins. |
| 1958 | September 5 | Inauguration of the building for the Legion of Christ's
novitiate in Salamanca, Spain. |
| December 12 | Our Lady of Guadalupe church inaugurated in Rome. |
| 1959 | February 6 | The "Great Blessing" ends.
Father Maciel begins to establish the apostolic movement
called Regnum Christi. |
| 1964 | | The Anáhuac University opens in Mexico City. |
| 1965 | February 6 | The Legion is granted definitive approval by the Holy See
upon receiving its "Decree of Praise" (Decretum Laudis). |
| 1966 | June | Opening of the first "Mano Amiga" school in Mexico City,
offering subsidized education to those most in need. |
| 1970 | |
Pope Paul VI entrusts a vast mission territory to the
Legionaries of Christ on the Mayan coast of Quintana Roo.
Final months Beginning of ECYD, an international organization for
Catholic adolescents. |
| 1983 | June 29 | Definitive approval of the Legion of Christ's Constitutions. |
| 1990 | |
First Spanish edition of Father Maciel's Integral Formation
of Catholic Priests. |
| 1991 | January 3 | Pope John Paul II ordains 60 Legionaries of Christ in St.
Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on the 50th Anniversary of their founding.
The International Pontifical College Maria Mater Ecclesiae
is founded to help bishops form their diocesan priests. |
| 1993 | September 15 | The Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum is established in Rome.
Pope John Paul II would later grant it the title of "Pontifical." |
| 2001 | January 4 | In an audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II
welcomes the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi
members who had come to Rome to commemorate the 60th
anniversary of the Legion's founding.
|
