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• Gabriel announces her election as mother of the Messiah (Luke 1: 26-38)
• she visits Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56)
• she travels to Bethlehem and gives birth to Jesus (Luke 2:1-20)
• she presents Jesus at the Temple to Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:21-39)
• she discovers Jesus discoursing in the Temple with the elders (Luke 2:40-52)
• she asks Jesus to help the wine stewards at the Cana wedding (John 2:1-11)
• she visits Jesus with his brothers (Matt. 12:46; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21)
• at the foot of the cross, she hears her son's last words to her (John 19:26-27)
• she experiences Pentecost with the apostles (Acts 1:14)

early 4th c.: Earliest manuscript of the Protevangelium of James. Tells the events preceding Mary's birth through the Massacre of the Innocents.

5th century: Earliest accounts of the Death of Mary or Transitus Mariae. Appeared in Latin as the Pseudo-Melito and the Pseudo-Joseph of Arimathea.

7th or 8th c.: The Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew appears, with the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary following in the 9th century. These amplify the Protevangelium with miracles and teachings. Pseudo-Matthew was the principal source for medieval French and English mystery plays.

high medieval period: Whole cycles of "the Life of Our Lady" develop, condemned at Trent (1545-1563).

2nd century: In his Against Heresies, Irenaeus depicts Mary as a "second Eve," a foundational statement for the later development of Christian theology especially on Mary as a representative or symbol of the church.

431: Against Nestorius, who called Mary only "Christotokos"—mother of Christ—the Council of Ephesus affirms that Mary is "Theotokos"—mother of God. This supports and extends the devotional cult of Mary in the church.

early 8th century: Germanus of Constantinople (d. 733) says, "There is no one to whom the gift of grace is given except through Mary." This is the earliest explicit testimony to the idea that Mary dispenses graces to the church on earth.

8th century: The title Mediatrix, as applied to the Mother of God (indicating a belief that Mary shared in the saving mission of her son), is first used by Andrew of Crete (d. 740), Germanus of Constantinople (d. 733), and Tarasius (d. ca. 807).

9th century: From the East, the title "Mediatrix" is introduced into the West through a translation by Paul the Deacon of the Life of Theophilus, in which the term is used. From the 12th century on, it is applied to Mary with ever-increasing frequency until it becomes generally accepted in the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century.

12th century: Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) popularizes the teaching that Mary is dispenser of grace to Christians, which becomes widely accepted during the Middle Ages. His statement "God has willed that we should have nothing that did not pass through the hands of Mary" was oft-repeated in that period.

late 14th century: The title "Coredemptrix" first appears in Catholic literature.

1477: Sixtus IV, in his apostolic constitution Cum praecelsa, becomes the first pope to allude to the "spiritual motherhood" of Mary: as she was mother of Christ, she remains the mother of all members of his "body."

19th century: Cardinal Newman rediscovers Irenaeus's image of Mary as the new Eve, leading to renewed attention to the Mary-church analogy and typology.

1954: Pius XII orders the universal observance of Mary's queenship (and dispensing of all graces to the faithful) on May 31.

1956: In his encyclical Haurietis aquas, Pius XII affirms that "in bringing about the work of human Redemtion, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, by the will of God, so indissolubly associated with Christ, that our salvation proceeded from the love and sufferings of Jesus Christ intimately joined with the love and sorrows of His Mother."

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