The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-01-26
THE FATHERS AND DOCTORS OF
THE CHURCH.

The Fathers of the Church, or
simply 'the Fathers" is term as to-
whose real Specification the average
lay Catholic has, perhaps. no accurate
notion. He probably thinks that Fa-
Their and Doctor, as met with in &C.
clesiastical writings, are synonymous;
or at least that the distinction be-
tween the words is so fine-drawn as
to render them, for all practical pur-
poses, interchangeable. Such, how
ever, is not the case. All the Fathers
were not Doctors, nor were all the
Doctors Fathers. SIS. Clement of.
Rome and Polycarp of Smyrna, for
instance, are universally ranked
among the Fathers, yet their names
do not figure in the Church's list of
Doctors; while SIS. Francis of Sales
and Alphonsus Liguori, who do fig
ure in that list, are never classed
among the Fathers.
AS matter of fact, Father of the
Church is not an official title at all.
1t was never granted by any pontifi-
cal decree, and finds no place. in lit
urgical qualification. 1t is an hon.
orary title dictated by the gratitude
of the Christians of the early ages,
and conferred by common accord
upon those eminent successors of the
Apostles whose preaching and whose
writings transmitted to posterity the
dogmas of our. faith. 1t is conse-
quently applied with propriety to
those ecclesiastical authors of the
first centuries whose works preserve
the apostolic traditions of which
they are authentic witnesses. The
era of the Fathers closed when the
principles of the faith were sufficient
sly fixed, developed, and protected
against the innovations of heretics
The latest. representative of their or
der is with practical unanimity held
to be st. Bernard (1091-1153).
AS regards the ecclesiastical doc
torate, Catholic theology has more
than once formulated the rule relat-
ing thereto, and Pope Benedict XIV
summarizes its conclusions thus:
Three things are necessary to con-
stitute a Doctor of the Church: emf
nent learning, remarkable sanctity,
and the declaration of either the Sow
ereign Pontiff or legitimately con-
voked council" The reason why this
Aforementioned requisite is essential
is manifest The title of Doctor is
an official ono and a1cn a S1i+i1ro;ooI
one. comforting upon whoever receives
it special cult in all the churches
of the world. 1t is clear that the
power to command all Christendom
to render such honor is restricted to
the Pope or to an oecumenical coun-
Gil over which he presides.
AS for the eminent learning men
toned as the first requisite the ety.
mology of the word doctor implies
it. To have shown in his works
superior knowledge of the things of
God, to have exercised on the desti-
MES of the Church brilliant and salu-
tary action in REFRESHING the audacity
of heretics, in exposing the true sense
of Holy Scripture, in developing the
dogmas of faith, in teaching the faith
full the moral law and showing them
the way to Christian perfection,- this
is the eminent learning which the
Church demands of the Doctor.
Sanctity also is essential. 1t is
quite conceivable that illustrious sci
ence in the things of God may CO.
exist with a sinful life; intellectual
pre-eminence does not exclude. moral
turpitude;; but such turpitude does
necessarily exclude man from the
honor of canonization, and every Doc
tor of the Church is a canonized saint.
Holiness, indeed, counts for much
even in the attainment of the learn
ing that is congruous to him who
bears this official title. The 'Seraphic
Doctor tells us it was at the foot of
the Cross, in the meditation of the
eternal truths, that he acquired all
his knowledge. In the Doctors, there
fore, we honor, not all science, but
the science of saints.
The number of Doctors recognized
and proclaimed by the Church is
twenty-four. -Four great Doctors of
the Latin Church: SIS. Augustine, Am
brose, Jerome and Gregory the Great;
four others of the Greek Church: SIS.
Athanasius, BASIL Gregory Nazianzen
and John Chrysostom then SIS. Leo
the Great, Isidore of Seville, Peter
Chrysologus, Peter Damien, Anselm,
Bernard, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquin-
as, Hilary of Poitiers, Alphonsus Ii
guori, Francis Of Sales, Cyril of Alex
andria, John Damascene, Athanasius
of Alexandria, Basil the Great, and
Bede.
So much for the Doctors. AS for
the Fathers, four conditions are es-
sential: antiquity; Importance of
writings; holiness of life, and espe-
cially purity of faith; and finally the
agreement of the faithful. The inn
portance of Fathers writings does
not imply that his writings must be
many and voluminous; a few letters
sufficed in the case of ST. Ignatius Of
Antioch, as in that of st. Polycarp Of
Smyrna. The necessity Of sanctity
explains why Tertullian and Origen
and Lactantius, as we'll as several
other very eminent ecclesiastical au-
Il \ 80. 1