Early Church Mothers

[Kathleen18]

[I am not sure this question belongs here.]
Are there any women considered Early Church Mothers? If so, do we have any of their writings?

 

[Thom18]

I don’t think such a thing exists. The Early Church Fathers were responsible for most of our theological understandings of the early Church. Women, in those days- if they helped move the faith forward- were more often martyrs, or perhaps “social figures” (two women who were martyred for refusing to use their artistic abilities in a pagan festival come to mind) rather than teachers.

 

[adgloriam]

It’s my understanding most Church fathers were bishops and the importance of their writings is also pastoral, that is probably why the role isn’t taken by woman.

However, the woman in the new testament have a very unique role that I find highly relevant. And associated to the church fathers are woman, for example Saint Monica the mother of Saint Augustin. Or the mother of emperor Constantin.

I think woman more likely than not had the most relevant role at teaching catechesis in the family - since the start of Christianity.

Women in the patristic age - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Kathleen18]

Hmmmm. I wonder if we could consider St. Perpetua as an Early Church Mother. Didn’t she leave some writings behind?

 

[babochka]

Early and influential females saints from the patristic era include St. Emilia, mother of Saint Basil the Great, and her daughter, Saint Macrina.

 

[Mintaka]

Actually, we have many works by early Christian women. (Tons compared to secular pagan sources!) The commoner term is “the Desert Mothers,” because a fair number of them were desert hermits and monastics.

St. Perpetua’s prison journal is indeed one of those works by non-monastic women. The travelogue of St. Egeria is also super cool.

St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote up his last talk with his dying sister, St. Macrina the Younger, in the style of a Socratic dialogue. She was the teacher and comforter, not he.

These are just a few examples. If you are interested, there is a book, The Mothers of the Church, written by Mike Aquilina.

 

[goodcatholic]

I was thinking a similar thing.
How about Early Church Fathers In -Law?

 

[BoyGenius]

Our Lady. Jesus’s Mom. She became the Mother of the Church, when Christ said to Saint John the Apostle, “Behold your mother…”

 

[adgloriam]

Hmmmm. I wonder if we could consider St. Perpetua as an Early Church Mother. Didn’t she leave some writings behind?

I really don’t know. My knowledge of that time period isn’t very good. Excluding Aquinas my readings have been focused on the 15th century onward. Off course, that includes things that are derived from the early church authors, but I can’t trace the ideas directly back to them. The catechism cites them, as does Aquinas, and many other theologians I’ve read, but patristics is so vast I don’t know my way around it.