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

[jean8]

…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.

catholic means ‘universal’

jean

 

[NotWorthy]

catholic means ‘universal’

jean

Yes, and there is one “universal” Church.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Basically, Ignatius refers to the church as “the universal church”?

Yes. That seems to be what the word ‘Catholic’ means in the case of Ignatius of Antioch. The Protestant scholar Dr. J.N.D. Kelly said, “Very quickly, however, in the latter half of the second century at latest, we find9 it conveying the suggestion that the Catholic is the true Church as distiinct from the heretical congregations.”​

9 Cf., e.g. Muratorian Canon.
(J.N.D Kelly, Early Christian Doctines, p. 190)

 

[bullfrog654]

why did all my posts get erased yesterday and dont say i wrote classified TOP secret stuff in a public forum so secret agencies were wandering why they didnt have those classification levels that were in the public view. lol just wandering its still on my site

 

[Randy_Carson]

Basically, Ignatius refers to the church as “the universal church”?

Basically, the Bishop of Antioch, the place where the believers were first called “Christians”, used the term “Catholic Church” as a formal noun when referring to the body of Christians collectively, and he did so in a manner that suggests that the name had been in wide circulation for some time because he did not have to introduce it to his audience.

Thus, we know that the body of Christ, the one and only Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself with His hand-picked vicar, Peter, at the head, referred to itself as the Catholic Church.

2,000 years later, it still does.

 

[Randy_Carson]

catholic means ‘universal’

jean

Yes, it does. On the other hand “Catholic”, as in “Catholic Church” has an entirely differenct connotation, doesn’t it?

The Church has used this latter meaning since the first century.

Ignatius of Antioch

“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])

---

The Martyrdom of Polycarp

“When at last he had finished his prayer, in which he remembered all who had met with him ant any time, both small and great, both those with and those without renown, and the whole Catholic Church throughout the world.” (The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 8:1, [A.D. 156]).

“And certainly the most admirable Polycarp was one of these [elect], in whose times among us he showed himself an apostolic and prophetic teacher and bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna.”(The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 16:2, [A.D. 156]).

Irenaeus

The Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have already said (Against Heresies 1:10 [A.D. 189]).

Tertullian

“Where was [the heretic] Marcian, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago – in the reign of Antoninus [AD 138-161] for the most part – and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherus [AD 175-189], until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled. . . . Afterward . . . Marcian professed repentance and agreed to the conditions granted to him – that he should receive reconciliation if he restored to the Church all the others whom he had been training for perdition; he was prevented, however, by death.” (Demurrer Against the Heretics, 20, [A.D. 200]).

**Clement of Alexandria
**
“From what has been said, then, it seems clear to me that the true Church, that which is really ancient, is one; and in it are enrolled those who, in accord with a design, are just. . . . We say, therefore, that in substance, in concept, in origin and in eminence, the ancient and Catholic Church is alone, gathering as it does into the unity of the one faith which results from the familiar covenants, - or rather, from the one covenant in different times, by the will of the one God and through the one Lord, - those already chosen, those predestined by God who knew before the foundation of the world that they would be just.” (Stromaties 7:17:107:3 [A.D. 202]).

“… There is one true Church, the really ancient Church into which are enrolled those who are righteous according to Gods ordinance… In essence, in idea, in origin, in preeminence we say that the ancient Catholic Church is the only Church …”

I have more quotes if you need them.