# The Fathers of the Church

The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation (FOTC or FC) is an ongoing book series of English translations of patristic texts from early Christian writers published by The Catholic University of America Press. Inaugurated by its first volume in 1947, The Apostolic Fathers, and initially planned by its founder and first editorial director Ludwig Schopp to span 72 volumes, the series aimed to supersede the nineteenth-century Ante-Nicene Fathers and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers collections, making use of critical editions of the relevant texts that had since become available, as well as better knowledge of patristic Greek and Latin, rendering the texts themselves into "contemporary English.": 373 Furthermore, each volume was to be coupled with useful features such as scholarly introductions, footnotes, bibliographies, and Scripture indices. Privately published by "Christian Heritage, Inc." and "Fathers of the Church, Inc." initially, the series was later transferred to The Catholic University of America Press in 1961.: 379–80
According to Roy J. Deferrari, the principal editor of the series in its early years (1949–1960), the primary rationale behind the series was motivated by the "anti-Catholic bias" of the existing Ante-Nicene Fathers and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers editions, a bias he described as "nothing short of shocking to those who use them," and a desire to "supplant" those editions.$^{:372}$ Although originally focused on creating newer translations of previously translated texts, the series would later refocus to prioritize publishing texts never before translated into English.
In 1989, a new series titled The Fathers of the Church: Medieval Continuations was created, inaugurated by the first of six volumes of letters by St. Peter Damian, to expand the scope of translations beyond the first centuries of Christianity.

## List of FOTC volumes

* (1947) The Apostolic Fathers. Translated by Francis X. Glimm, Gerald G. Walsh, and Joseph M.-F. Marique. Includes the First Epistle of St. Clement, the so-called Second Epistle of St. Clement, the seven epistles of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Epistle of St. Polycarp, the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle to Diognetus, and the fragments of St. Papias.
* (1947) St. Augustine. Christian Instruction (trans. John J. Gavigan); Admonition and Grace (trans. John Courtney Murray); The Christian Combat (trans. Robert P. Russell); Faith, Hope and Charity (trans. Bernard M. Peebles).
* (1947) Salvian the Presbyter. The Writings of Salvian, the Presbyter. Translated by Jeremiah F. O'Sullivan. Includes The Governance of God, the epistles of Salvian, and the Four Books of Timothy to the Church.
* (1947) St. Augustine. The Immortality of the Soul (trans. Ludwig Schopp); The Magnitude of the Soul (trans. John J. McMahon); On Music (trans. Robert Catesby Taliaferro); The Advantage of Believing (trans. Luanne Meagher); On Faith in Things Unseen (trans. Roy Joseph Deferrari and Mary Francis McDonald).
* (1948) St. Augustine. The Happy Life (trans. Ludwig Schopp); Answer to Skeptics (trans. Denis J. Kavanagh); Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil (trans. Robert P. Russell); Soliloquies (trans. Thomas F. Gilligan).
* (1948) St. Justin Martyr. The Writings of Saint Justin Martyr. Translated by Thomas B. Falls. Includes the First Apology, the Second Apology, and the Dialogue with Trypho, as well as spurious works scholars categorized as Pseudo-Justin: The Exhortation to the Greeks, the Discourse to the Greeks, and The Monarchy or the Rule of God.
* (1949) St. Nicetas of Remesiana. Writings (trans. Gerald G. Walsh). Sulpicius Severus. Writings (trans. Bernard M. Peebles). St. Vincent of Lérins. Commonitories (trans. Rudolph E. Morris). St. Prosper of Aquitaine. Grace and Free Will (trans. J. Reginald O'Donnell).
* (1950) St. Augustine. The City of God, Books I–VII. Translated by Demetrius B. Zema and Gerald G. Walsh.
* (1950) St. Basil. Ascetical Works. Translated by M. Monica Wagner.
* (1950) Tertullian. Apologetical Works. Includes Apology (trans. Emily Joseph Daly), The Testimony of the Soul (trans. Rudolph Arbesmann), To Scapula (trans. Rudolph Arbesmann), and On the Soul (trans. Edwin A. Quain). Minucius Felix. Octavius. Translated by Rudolph Arbesmann.
* (1951) St. Augustine. Commentary on the Lord's Sermon on the Mount with Seventeen Related Sermons. Translated by Denis J. Kavanagh.
* (1951) St. Augustine. Letters, Volume I (1–82). Translated by Wilfrid Parsons.
* (1951) St. Basil. Letters, Volume I (1–185). Translated by Agnes Clare Way.
* (1952) St. Augustine. The City of God, Books VIII–XVI. Translated by Gerald G. Walsh and Grace Monahan.
* (1952) Early Christian Biographies. Includes Life of St. Cyprian by Pontius (trans. Mary Magdeleine Müller and Roy J. Defferari), Life of St. Ambrose by Paulinus (trans. John A. Lacy), Life of St. Augustine by Bishop Possidius (trans. Mary Magdeleine Müller and Roy J. Defferari), Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius (trans. Mary Emily Keenan), Life of St. Paul the First Hermit by St. Jerome (trans. Marie Liguori Ewald), Life of St. Hilarion by St. Jerome (trans. Marie Liguori Ewald), Life of Malchus by St. Jerome (trans. Marie Liguori Ewald), Life of St. Epiphanius by Ennodius (trans. Genevieve Marie Cook), and A Sermon on the Life of St. Honoratus by St. Hilary (Roy J. Deferrari).
* (1952) St. Augustine. Treatises on Various Subjects. Includes The Christian Life (trans. Mary Sarah Muldowney), Lying (trans. Mary Sarah Muldowney), Against Lying (trans. Harold B. Jaffee), Continence (trans. Mary Francis McDonald), Patience (trans. Luanne Meagher), The Excellence of Widowhood (trans. M. Clement Eagan), The Work of Monks (trans. Mary Sarah Muldowney), The Usefulness of Fasting (trans. Mary Sarah Muldowney), and The Eight Questions of Dulcitius (trans. Mary DeFerrari).
* (1953) St. Peter Chrysologus. Selected Sermons. Translated by George E. Ganss. St. Valerian. Homilies. Translated by George E. Ganss.
* (1953) St. Augustine. Letters, Volume II (83–130). Translated by Wilfrid Parsons.
* (1953) Eusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History, Books 1–5. Translated by Roy J. Deferrari.
* (1953) St. Augustine. Letters, Volume III (131–164). Translated by Wilfrid Parsons.
* (1953) St. Augustine. Confessions. Translated by Vernon J. Bourke.
* (1953) St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. Ambrose. Funeral Orations. Translated by Leo P. McCauley, John J. Sullivan, Martin R. P. McGuire, and Roy J. Deferrari.
* (1954) Clement of Alexandria. Christ the Educator. Translated by Simon P. Wood.
* (1954) St. Augustine. The City of God, Books XVII–XXII. Translated by Gerald G. Walsh and Daniel J. Honan.
* (1954) St. Hilary of Poitiers. The Trinity. Translated by Stephen McKenna.
* (1954) St. Ambrose. Letters. Translated by Sister Mary Melchior Beyenka, O.P.