c. AD 30
Scripture
Jesus to Simon Peter Matthew 16:18
“…on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.”
Short answer
Jesus said he would build his Church and be with it to the close of the age. The name "Catholic Church" is in writing from about 107, two centuries before Constantine. Writers of the second and third centuries describe that Church with her bishops, and give a line of bishops at Rome reaching back to the apostles. Constantine gave Christians freedom to practice their religion, and his own letter of 313 orders property returned to "the Catholic Church of the Christians", which had owned it before. He asked the bishops for baptism in 337.
Drafted from primary sources. Every quotation is checked against the page it links to.
18 quotations in date order
The Apostolic AgeAD 1 to 100
c. AD 30
Scripture
The risen Jesus Matthew 28:19-20
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
c. AD 30
Scripture
St. Luke, on the day of Pentecost Acts 2:42
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
The Early Church100 to 325
c. 107
Church Father
St. Ignatius of Antioch Letter to the Smyrnaeans, ch. 8
“Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
c. 156
Church Father
The Church of Smyrna Martyrdom of Polycarp, ch. 16
“…this most admirable Polycarp was one, having in our own times been an apostolic and prophetic teacher, and bishop of the Catholic Church which is in Smyrna.”
c. 180
Church Father
St. Irenaeus of Lyons Against Heresies 3.3.3
“The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. … Soter having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now, in the twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the episcopate.”
c. 200
Church Father
Clement of Alexandria Stromata, Book 7, ch. 17
“From what has been said, then, it is my opinion that the true Church, that which is really ancient, is one … Therefore in substance and idea, in origin, in pre-eminence, we say that the ancient and Catholic Church is alone, collecting as it does into the unity of the one faith…”
251
Church Father
Pope St. Cornelius, as quoted by Eusebius Eusebius, Church History 6.43.11
“This avenger of the Gospel then did not know that there should be one bishop in a catholic church; yet he was not ignorant (for how could he be?) that in it there were forty-six presbyters, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolyths, fifty-two exorcists, readers, and janitors, and over fifteen hundred widows and persons in distress, all of whom the grace and kindness of the Master nourish.”
c. 272
Church Father
Eusebius of Caesarea Church History 7.30.19
“But as Paul refused to surrender the church building, the Emperor Aurelian was petitioned; and he decided the matter most equitably, ordering the building to be given to those to whom the bishops of Italy and of the city of Rome should adjudge it.”
313
Church Father
Emperors Constantine and Licinius, as quoted by Eusebius Eusebius, Church History 10.5.7
“We have resolved to communicate this most fully to your care, in order that you may know that we have granted to these same Christians freedom and full liberty to observe their own religion.”
313
Church Father
Emperor Constantine, as quoted by Eusebius Eusebius, Church History 10.5.16
“Wherefore it is our will that when you receive this letter, if any such things belonged to the Catholic Church of the Christians, in any city or other place, but are now held by citizens or by any others, you shall cause them to be restored immediately to the said churches. For we have already determined that those things which these same churches formerly possessed shall be restored to them.”
The Age of the Councils325 to 800
325
Council
First Council of Nicaea Canon 6
“The ancient customs of Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis shall be maintained, according to which the bishop of Alexandria has authority over all these places since a similar custom exists with reference to the bishop of Rome. Similarly in Antioch and the other provinces the prerogatives of the churches are to be preserved.”
337
Church Father
Emperor Constantine, as recorded by Eusebius Eusebius, Life of Constantine, Book 4, ch. 62
“The hour has come in which I too may have the blessing of that seal which confers immortality; the hour in which I may receive the seal of salvation. … After he had thus spoken, the prelates performed the sacred ceremonies in the usual manner, and, having given him the necessary instructions, made him a partaker of the mystic ordinance.”
c. 350
Church Father
St. Cyril of Jerusalem Catechetical Lecture 18, 26
“And if ever you are sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord's House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God”
The Middle Ages800 to 1500
c. 1273
Doctor of the Church
St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae III, q. 64, a. 2, Reply to Objection 3
“The apostles and their successors are God's vicars in governing the Church which is built on faith and the sacraments of faith. Wherefore, just as they may not institute another Church, so neither may they deliver another faith, nor institute other sacraments”
The Modern Era1800 to today
1870
Council
First Vatican Council Pastor Aeternus, ch. 2
“That which our lord Jesus Christ, the prince of shepherds and great shepherd of the sheep, established in the blessed apostle Peter, for the continual salvation and permanent benefit of the church, must of necessity remain for ever, by Christ’s authority, in the church which, founded as it is upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time”
1992
Magisterium
Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 765
“The Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice of the Twelve with Peter as their head.”
1992
Magisterium
Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 830
“"Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church." In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head … the Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.”