The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-04-13
THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH.


claim to the authority of the inspired
writer's, their works are nevertheless
of very great Importance. The Faith
ers, writes Rev.C. A Martin in "Catho.
lie Religion" are the witnesses of the
faith and practice of the Christians
of their generations. So they ever
afterward have relation to both the
Bible and the Church. While, as Moeh.
Ter, says There must be Fathers of the
Church, as long as the Church her,
self lasts" yet by the term "the
Fathers" is generally understood
those ecclesiastical writer's of old who,
on account of their learning and holt
ness of life, have been recognized as
such by the Church. So that antiquity,
as we'll as ecclesiastical learning, or
thodox doctrine, holiness of life, and
the appreciation of the Church, usually
enter into our concept of the Fathers.
Some of the Fathers on account of
their greater learning and holiness
have been honored by the Church with
the title of Doctors of the Church -
Thus Saints Athanasius, Basil, Greg.
DRY of NazianZen and John Chrysos-
tom among the Greeks; and Saints
Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo
and Pope Gregory the Great among the
Latin, are styled the great Doctors of
the Church.
Some early authors, though living
in the Church, have not always, in
their lives or writings, expressed her
pure doctrine and are technically
called Ecclesiastical Writer'S" as
Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Ter
tullian, Eusebius. Others again, like
Novatian who have left behind writ
ings on matters of faith, but did not
live in the Communion of the Church,
are styled christian Writer'S"
The Fathers are spoken of accord
ing to their language as Greek or
Latin; according to their authority as
greater or lesser; according to their
age as apostolic, post-apostolic, early,
later, anti-Nicene, (before the Council
of Nice, A. D. $3.50 and post-Nicene.
These ancient Christian authors in
clude popes, bishops, priests and lay
men. They preached in sermons; inter
preted the Scriptures; wrote history;
carried on controversy with Christians
who had fallen into heresy and away
from the Church.; addressed apologies
for the Christian faith to their neigh
bors who still sat in the darkness of
paganism. They were often men of the
highest culture which the Greek and
Roman schools of philosophy and
literature afforded; and they brought
their genius and learning to the de-
Tense and exposition of the Christian
religion. Their works are valuable,
pregnant phrases carrying whole SER
mons in their bosoms, their devotion
and spiritual life. But their writings
have another value. They are the his
torical monuments of early Christian
ity. They are the record of the
Church's traditional teachings and
practice.
1t is, accordingly, an accepted prin-
ciple that "the agreement of all the
Fathers of the Church together, in
matters of faith and morals, begets
complete certainty and commands as
sent, because they, as a body, bear
witness to the teaching and belief of
the infallible Church. The consensus,
however, need not be absolute; a NOR
al agreement sufices; as for instance,
when some of the greatest Fathers
testify to a doctrine of the Church and
the rest, though quite aware of it, do
not oppose it. Whatever, therefore,
the Fathers unanimously teach as the
divinely revealed tradition of the
Church, must be accepted and be-
lieved as SUCH
There have always been in the
Church, men who are able to appre.
ciate the Fathers and willing to pre-.
serve their works. st. Jerome, who
died in 400, composed a book contain
ing an account of the lives and works
of one hundred and thirty-five writer's
beginning with the Apostolic age and
ending with his own. This was con-
tinued by Gennadius of Marseilles
(died 1867; st. Isidore of Seville (died
636), and others. The Greek Patri
similar work. In more modern times
Cardinal Bellarmine (died 1920, cult
waited Pathology in accordance with the
rules of historical criticism. A cen
fury later the Benedictines of St. Maur
and the French Oratorians wrought
marvels in this department. The
great Benedictine folios rejoice the
heart of every book-loyer; while their
scholarship is the admiration of the
learned. The field of Pathology has
been constantly worked ever since by
the most enlightened scholars, as the
great mine of Christian antiquity. The
Migne edition of the Fathers and early
Christian writer's comprises 379 large
quarto volumes; 1872 tones of Greek
and 217 of Latin writer's.
The translation of many works oil
the Fathers Tin all nearly 100 vol
umes) into English by, scholars at
Oxford and Edinburg, had much tc