Personages: PM = Pierre Messiaen, CS = Cécile Sauvage, OM = Olivier Messiaen, YL = Yvonne Loriod
| 1883 | 13 March | Pierre Messiaen born. (Le Blaton, Flanders, France) |
| 20 July | Cécile Sauvage born. (La-Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, France) | |
| 1905 | Pierre Messiaen becomes an editorial assistant at the Revue forézienne. | |
| November | Cécile Sauvage and Pierre Messiaen meet. | |
| 1907 | 9 September | Cécile Sauvage and Pierre Messiaen marry. (Sieyes, Digne, France) |
| 1908 | CS becomes pregnant, begins work on L'âme en bourgeon. | |
| 10 December | Olivier Messiaen born. (Avignon, France) | |
| 1910 | CS Tandis que la terre tourne (incl. L'âme en bourgeon) published. | |
| 1912 | 30 August | Alain Messiaen born. (Ambert, Auvergne, France) |
| 1913 | CS Le Vallon published. | |
| 1914 | PM enlists in the French Army; CS and sons move to Grenoble. | |
| 1918 | Messiaen family relocates to Nantes, France; OM begins musical studies with Jean de Gibon. | |
| 1919 | July | Messiaen family relocates to Paris. |
| December | OM receives a score of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande from Jean de Gibon. | |
| 1919/20 | OM begins studies at the Paris Conservatoire. | |
| 1922 | OM receives the Deuxième medaille in piano and the Deuxième accessit [honorable mention] in harmony. | |
| 1923 | OM receives the Première medaille in piano. | |
| 1924 | OM receives the Deuxième prix in harmony and in piano accompaniment. | |
| 1925 | OM receives the Première prix in piano accompaniment. | |
| 1926 | OM receives the Première prix in fugue. | |
| 1927 | 26 August | CS dies from tuberculosis. |
| 1928 | OM receives the Première accessit in organ, the Deuxième accessit in composition, and the Second prix in music history. | |
| 1929 | OM receives the Première prix in organ, the Deuxième prix in composition, the Première prix in music history, and Diplome d'études musicales supérieures. | |
| 1930 | OM receives the Première prix in composition. | |
| 1931 | September | OM appointed titular organist of La Trinité. |
| 1932 | 22 June | OM and Claire Delbos marry. |
| 1933 | Autumn | OM begins compulsory military service (completed summer 1934). |
| 1935 | La Spirale founded. | |
| 1936 | 16 October | First American performance of OM's music (Les Offrandes oubliées, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra) |
| 1939 | September | France declares war on Germany; OM called up for military service. |
| 1940 | 15 June | OM captured by German forces in the fall of Verdun. |
| July | OM moved to a prisoner camp in Silesia, Germany (now Poland). | |
| 1941 | 15 January | Premier of Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, Stalag VIIIA, Görlitz, Silesia, Germany. |
| 12 March | OM in Vichy, France. | |
| 7 May | OM begins appointment as professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire. | |
| ? May | Yvonne Loriod receives the Deuxième prix in composition. | |
| 1943 | Claire Delbos begins to show signs of mental deterioration. | |
| 1944 | 25 August | Paris liberated from German occupation. |
| 1945 | April | “Messiaenques” disrupt a performance of Stravinsky's Danses concertantes and Four Norwegian Moods at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. |
| 1948 | November | OM begins teaching a new class in Analysis and Aesthetics at the Paris Conservatoire. |
| 1949 | July - August | OM teaches a composition workshop at Tanglewood. |
| 1952 | April | OM studies with ornithologist Jacques Delamain in Gardépée, France. |
| 1953 | Pascal Messiaen sent to London to study English. | |
| April | OM begins intensive birdsong research in the French countryside. | |
| 11 October | Premier of Réveil des oiseaux. | |
| 1958 | March | OM, YL begin collecting birdsongs in southern France; this continues during the summer using tape recorders and transcriptions. |
| 26 June | Pierre Messiaen dies (Orange). | |
| 2 August | Pascal Messiaen and Josette Bender marry; OM does not attend. | |
| 13 September | OM lectures at the Philips Pavilion in Brussels. | |
| 1959 | 22 April | Claire Delbos dies (buried 25 April, Bourg-la-Reine). |
| 1961 | 1 July 1961 | OM and Yvonne Loriod marry (religions ceremony: 3 July 1961). |
| 1962 | 13 February | Premier of Chronochromie. |
| 19 June - 10 July | OM, YL travel to Japan for performances and collecting birdsongs. | |
| 1964 | OM moves into YL's residence in the rue Marcadet. | |
| 1966 | OM appointed Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatoire. | |
| December | OM elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l'Institut de France. | |
| 1967 | 23 November | La Trinité centenary. |
| 1970 | April | OM, YL visit Italy; OM attends a Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis. |
| 1971 | OM begins sketches for Saint François d’Assise. | |
| 1972 | 11 March | OM, YL begin American tour. |
| 1 May - 10 May | OM, YL visit Utah, including Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks and Zion Lodge. | |
| 1975 | Seiji Ozawa conducts a series of Turangalîla-Symphonie performances in the United States and Europe. OM receives the Ernst von Siemens-Musikpreis. | |
| 17 April | OM receives a tape of New Caledonian birdsong. | |
| 18 September - October | OM, YL travel to New Caledonia to collect birdsongs with Albert Tonnelier. | |
| 1976 | June | OM visits Assisi and Florence, completing the libretto for Saint François d’Assise. |
| 1977 | OM receives the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. | |
| 1978 | Celebrations and performances in honor of OM's 70th birthday; OM retires from the faculty of the Paris Conservatoire. | |
| 1982 | OM receives the Wolf Prize. | |
| 1983 | Premier of Saint François d’Assise. | |
| 1984 | 31 March - 14 April | OM, YL visit Israel and Palestine. |
| 1985 | OM receives the Kyoto Prize in Creative and Moral Sciences. | |
| 1988 | OM receives the Pope Paul VI International Prize. | |
| May - June | OM travels to Australia for performances and collecting birdsongs. | |
| 1 June | OM's health begins to visibly decline. | |
| 1989 | YL retires from the Paris Conservatoire. | |
| 1992 | 27 April | OM dies, age 83. |