- The catechumenate as we know it began to develop between 100 and 200 AD.
- The fully-structured process emerged between the third and fifth centuries. By the third century, the initiation process had become a three-year, highly-structured formation.
- In 315, the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. Large numbers of people began to convert to the Christian faith. The quality of catechesis and formation began to suffer.
- In the late fifth century, the practice of initiation began to be focused on infants. Confirmation and Eucharist began to be separated from baptism.
- By the twelfth century, the practice of infant baptism was normative. The catechumenate had died out, but elements of it could still be seen in the formation of monks and nuns.
- By the sixteenth century, entire villages and communities were being baptized en-mass with little or no formation.
- By the twentieth century, the catechumenate was a distant memory. However, some French missionaries began to revive elements of the ancient formation process to counteract the negative effects of mass baptisms and elevate the quality of lived-discipleship.
- At the Second Vatican Council, the bishops called for a restoration of the catechumenate.
- 1966 – the provisional ritual for catechumenate was distributed
- 1972 – the normative rite was promulgated in Latin (Ordo initiationis christianae adultorum)
- 1974 – a provisional English translation was issued (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults)
- 1986 – the U.S. Bishops’ Conference approved present edition of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults with U.S. adaptations, national statutes, and a national plan of implementation
- 1988 – the U.S Bishops made the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults mandatory in the United States.
