Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

time that the Jewish high priest ordered James' death, the Roman government did not support or permit the 

killing of Christians. 

    Saint Jerome places the deaths of James the Less and Mark the Gospel writer in adjacent years.

707

 In the 

year that James was killed, the Roman government did not support the killing of Christians. Albinus 

threatened the Jewish high priest who killed James and Agrippa removed the high priest from office 

promptly.

708

  Yet, in the very next year, a mob in Alexandria could drag Mark through the public streets 

without Roman intervention and kill him the next day with impunity. This change in attitude on the part of 

the Roman government shows that James died before the burning of Rome and Mark died afterwards. Thus 

James' death must have occurred in the spring of Nero's 10th year, and Mark's death must have occurred in 

the following year, Nero's 11th year. 

    There is additional evidence that Mark died in Nero's 11th year. Eusebius states that Mark's successor in 

Alexandria, Annianus, ruled for 22 years, until his death during the 4th year of the emperor Domitian.

709

 In 

this revised chronology, the 4th year of Domitian's reign is 

A.D.

 72. Counting back 22 years brings us to 

A.D.

50, the 11th year of Nero's reign. Based on the above considerations, Mark the Gospel writer died in the 11th 

year of Nero's reign, not his 8th year. Luke did not include the martyrdoms of James the Less and Mark in 

Acts of the Apostles because they died about three years after Acts was completed. 

    Mark arrived in Egypt in spring of 

A.D.

 36 and died in spring of Nero's 11th year, 

A.D.

 50. He died about 14 

years after he first came to Egypt to preach the Gospel and to establish the church at Alexandria. 

Paul's Martyrdom 

    Peter and Paul were both put to death on the same day. Eusebius tells us that Peter was crucified and Paul 

was beheaded in Rome and at the same time.

710

 Saint Jerome also states that Peter and Paul were martyred on 

the same day.

711

 Both Eusebius and Jerome describe Peter and Paul's martyrdoms as occurring during Nero's 

reign. As explained above, the date of their death was June 29, 

A.D.

 52, during the summer of Nero's 13th 

year as emperor, less than one full year before Nero died. As Jack Finegan so clearly explains, Nero was 

probably not in Rome directly presiding over the deaths of Peter and Paul. Rather, they died as a result of the 

persecution that Nero initiated, encouraged, and oversaw.

712

    Saul was converted to Christ in the year 

A.D.

 22, sometime after Saint Stephen's martyrdom. Paul was 

martyred for Christ in the summer of the year 

A.D.

 52. Therefore, Paul's service to Christ as an Apostle of the 

Faith lasted about 30 years. 

The Gospel of John 

    Saint Jerome wrote that the Gospel of Mark was sometimes ascribed to the Apostle Peter.

713

 Jerome is not 

claiming that Peter wrote the Gospel of Mark. In fact, Peter only found out that Mark had written the Gospel 

after it was completed.

714

 Rather, Peter is given some credit for the content of Mark's Gospel because Mark 

learned much about Christ from Peter. Something similar can be said about the Gospel of John. 

    After the Ascension of Christ to Heaven, John the Gospel writer, one of the Twelve Apostles, took care of 

the Virgin Mary.  And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.  (Jn 19:27). During the 15 years 

from Christ's Ascension to Mary's Assumption, John spent more time with the Virgin Mary than did any of 

the other Apostles or Gospel writers. A devout disciple of Christ who spends much time with the Virgin Mary 

could not help but learn much about Christ from his holy Mother and closest Imitator. Thus the Gospel of 

John was undoubtedly influenced by the Virgin Mary. She did not write the Gospel of John, nor was she even 

living on earth when it was written. The Gospel of John was written long after Mary's Assumption to Heaven. 

Yet her influence is unmistakable within the depth and breadth of the understanding of Christ found in the 

fourth Gospel. 

Saint Jerome describes the circumstances surrounding the writing of the Gospel of John: 

When he was in Asia, at the time when the seeds of heresy were springing up (I refer to Cerinthus, 

Ebion, and the rest who say that Christ has not come in the flesh, whom he in his own epistle calls 

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