Question about the Church

[natedagw824]

Hello there,

I have a question about the early Church Fathers: Who were they? Were they saints? I know that Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine are DOCTORS of the Church, but who are the church fathers?

I would really appreciate any feedback that you provide on this issue!

Thanks!

Nathan =)

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Quoting from the book *The Fathers of the Church *by Mike Aquilina:

"The Fathers of the Church are a select group of early Christian teachers, around a hundred in number, depending of the list you consult. The Catholic Church has long revered them and given them a privileged place of doctrinal authority. Many of them are also revered by the Orthodox Churches and the other churches of the East. The Fathers, generally speaking, meet four criteria, which were established by St. Vincent of Lérins in the fifth century:

1. 
   *]Orthodox doctrine
   *]Holiness of life
   *]Church approval
   *]Antiquity
   
   The age of the Fathers, sometimes called the Patristic Era, stretched from the middle of the first century to the middle of the eighth, at the death of St. John of Damascus. Some of the earliest Fathers were disciples of the Apostles themselves, and the teaching of these men — called the Apostolic Fathers — has always received special veneration within the Church. Their witness is invaluable, because these Fathers were nearest to the Apostles, who were, in turn, nearest to Jesus Christ. …"

 

[Evan]

Another tidbit about the fathers.

I believe the song “Faith of our fathers” is refering to the faith handed on to us by the Fathers of the Church. For this reason the ‘new’ verse about faith of our mothers makes no sense. The only mother we have is Mary.

 

[ziggernaut]

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Yes, we have only one Mother, the Theotokos, just as we have only one Father, God. As there are a number of “fathers” of the Church, we also have a number of “mothers” of the Church.

Check out The Forgotten Desert Mothers, by Laura Swan. Available on Amazon and many other places.

God Bless,
Jeff

 

[Greg27]

The Fathers of the Church were leaders of the Early Church the Church judged to have these qualities in an outstanding manner:

1. Orthodox doctrine and learning
2. Holiness of life
3. A close relationship to the early history of the Church

The period runs from St Iranaeus to the time of St John Damascene, and after that outstanding teachers are named as Doctors of the Church.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

I believe the song “Faith of our fathers” is refering to the faith handed on to us by the Fathers of the Church. For this reason the ‘new’ verse about faith of our mothers makes no sense. The only mother we have is Mary.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Yes, we have only one Mother, the Theotokos, just as we have only one Father, God. As there are a number of “fathers” of the Church, we also have a number of “mothers” of the Church.

Check out The Forgotten Desert Mothers, by Laura Swan.

In fact, Aquilina devotes the last chapter of his book to what he informally calls the Church “mothers.” An excerpt:

"… to many modern minds it raises the question: Were there “Mothers of the Church”?

To which the answer is: yes and no.

We possess very few writings by women from the ancient world … women faced fewer educational opportunities than men …

This does not, however, mean that women were passive members of the Church … women made up a disproportionate number of converts … women played active roles in the running of the Church …

Women made up a great number of the early martyrs, and their stories and their cult of honor were often more popular than those of their male companions …

Women were just as active in the monastic movement. The many collections of “Sayings of the Desert Fathers” actually include proverbs by women ascetics …

Their contemporaries honored these women as maternal figures. The Church has always honored them as saints. There is no custom of calling them “Mothers of the Church,” but there is no reason why individual Christians might not revere them as such."

Aquilina then goes on to excerpt some of the writings of Perpetua, Syncletica, and Egeria.

Not that any of this justifies forcing a “faith of our mothers” into a traditional hymn!