When was the first time that the term "Catholic Church" was used?

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I’m looking to find historical evidence as to when the word “Catholic” or “Catholic Church” was penned.

Thanks.
 
I think the first recorded use of the word ‘‘Catholic’’ to describe the Christian Church was around 110 AD by St. Ignatius of Antioch in a letter to the Christians of Smyrna, Anatolia.
 
LDNCatholic said:
I think the first recorded use of the word ‘‘Catholic’’ to describe the Christian Church was in 110 AD by St. Ignatius of Antioch.
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…and I’ve heard that that was just the first time that we have written proof of it and that it was believed that by that time it was already well used in the past, just not written down.
 
allhers said:
…and I’ve heard that that was just the first time that we have written proof of it and that it was believed that by that time it was already well used in the past, just not written down.
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Yeah, I’d agree with that. I’d even go as far to say that records were probably not as meticulously kept in the very early Church and some letters were lost or damaged through accident or persecution.
 
Code: 
                 Originally Posted by **allhers**                     [forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif](http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=5043061#post5043061)                 
             *...and I've heard that that was just the first time that we have written proof of it and that it was believed that by that time it was already well used in the past, just not written down.*
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LDNCatholic said:
Yeah, I’d agree with that. I’d even go as far to say that records were probably not as meticulously kept in the very early Church and some letters were lost or damaged through accident or persecution.
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Quite right. You’ll notice that our good “Iggy” didn’t feel the need to explain the term “Catholic Church” in his epistle. He just used the term as if it were already understood.

That speaks volumes.

Also, Ignatius’ pedigree is also worth mentioning. He was the 3rd successor to Peter as Bishop of Antioch, a town that saw both Peter and Paul evangelizing it. And he had tutored under St. John, if I remember correctly?
 
The article on “Catholic” in the Catholic Encyclopedia addresses this topic at some length.
 
look at my sig line. Perhaps one of the best Catholic quotes ever.

also the quote talks about bishops, which Protestants claim the early Church didn’t have. So it proves 2 things in one quote.
 
Rulkiewicz said:
I’m looking to find historical evidence as to when the word “Catholic” or “Catholic Church” was penned.

Thanks.
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St. Ignatius. Early 2nd century. That is the limit of our current historical knowledge.
 
LDNCatholic said:
Yeah, I’d agree with that. I’d even go as far to say that records were probably not as meticulously kept in the very early Church and some letters were lost or damaged through accident or persecution.
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We know that there were at least 3 letters from Paul to the Corinthians, one of which is at least partially lost.
 
LDNCatholic said:
Yeah, I’d agree with that. I’d even go as far to say that records were probably not as meticulously kept in the very early Church and some letters were lost or damaged through accident or persecution.
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I have a feeling the records were kept as well as humanly possible, but a result of persecutions and invasions (by foreign armies) is that records (and all literature) are the first thing burnt up.

For instance, you could imagine how much information was damaged when the libraries of Alexandria went up in flames.
 
Rulkiewicz said:
I’m looking to find historical evidence as to when the word “Catholic” or “Catholic Church” was penned.

Thanks.
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The early Church - the Church founded by Christ as promised in Matthew 16:18 - was that which was originally known as the Way (cf. Acts 24:14). Later, those who followed Christ began to be called Christians beginning at Antioch (cf. Acts 11:26).

As early as 107 A.D., that same group was referred to as the “Catholic Church.” In a letter to the Church of Smyrna, Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “You must all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans, A.D. 107, [8,1])

Notice that Ignatius does not introduce the term “Catholic Church”; instead he uses it in a manner suggesting that the name was already in use and familiar to his audience. This further suggests that the name, Catholic Church, had to have been coined much earlier in order to have achieved wide circulation by the time of this writing. That means that the Christian assembly was probably calling itself the Catholic Church during the lifetime of the last Apostle, John, who died near the end of the first century.

As a side note, it is interesting that the believers in Antioch coined both terms still in use today: “Christian” and “Catholic Church”.
 
Randy_Carson said:
The early Church - the Church founded by Christ as promised in Matthew 16:18 - was that which was originally known as the Way (cf. Acts 24:14). Later, those who followed Christ began to be called Christians beginning at Antioch (cf. Acts 11:26).

As early as 107 A.D., that same group was referred to as the “Catholic Church.” In a letter to the Church of Smyrna, Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “You must all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans, A.D. 107, [8,1])

Notice that Ignatius does not introduce the term “Catholic Church”; instead he uses it in a manner suggesting that the name was already in use and familiar to his audience. This further suggests that the name, Catholic Church, had to have been coined much earlier in order to have achieved wide circulation by the time of this writing. That means that the Christian assembly was probably calling itself the Catholic Church during the lifetime of the last Apostle, John, who died near the end of the first century.

As a side note, it is interesting that the believers in Antioch coined both terms still in use today: “Christian” and “Catholic Church”.
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Basically, Ignatius refers to the church as “the universal church”?
 
Rulkiewicz said:
Basically, Ignatius refers to the church as “the universal church”?
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There was one Church, with one Authority. Those that tried to teach heresies were first corrected, and if they persisted, then withdrawn.

So, yes, the Catholic Church is the Universal Church.
 
Randy_Carson said:
"You must all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop.
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That is quite interesting, He mentions priests as early as the 2nd century. Again not introducing them but mentioning them as common knowledge of the priesthood already existed. That shamshes to bits the theories I have heard some Protestants espouse that we should not have ‘‘priests’’.

Thanks for that.
 
Rulkiewicz said:
Basically, Ignatius refers to the church as “the universal church”?
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And the Catholic Church is still Universal, it just so happens that there a significant number of Scismatics without aostolic authority whi refuse to submit to the authority of the Catholic Church. Each has gone their own way, doing what is right in their own eyes.
 
LDNCatholic said:
That is quite interesting, He mentions priests as early as the 2nd century. Again not introducing them but mentioning them as common knowledge of the priesthood already existed. That shamshes to bits the theories I have heard some Protestants espouse that we should not have ‘‘priests’’.

Thanks for that.
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Didn’t Cardinal Neumann say something about the realtionship between Catholicism and history?
 
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