Saturday, September 10, 2005
What is a "Doctor of the Church"?

The title of "Doctor of the Church" is bestowed on certain individuals not only for their faith but for their skillful defense of it. The first saints given this title on September 20, 1295, by Boniface XIII included Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, & Saint Gregory the Great. The next added was St. Thomas Aquinas and since then has grown to include thirty-three saints.

Traditionally, a Doctor of the Church was a male. After Vatican II, some women were added to this list which was a break with Tradition. Those still faithfully praying the pre-Vatican II Divine Office and saying the Traditional Mass do not generally accept these recent additions for good reason.

The Doctors of the Church:

St. Gregory the Great
St. Ambrose
St. Augustine
St. Jerome
St. John Chrysostom
St. Basil
St. Gregory Nazianzus
St. Athanasius
St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Bonaventure
St. Anselm
St. Isidore
St. Peter Chrysologus
St. Leo the Great
St. Peter Damian

St. Bernard
St. Hilary of Poitiers

St. Alphonsus Liguori
St. Francis de Sales
St. Cyril of Alexandria
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
St. John Damascene
St. Bede the Venerable
St. Ephraem
St. Peter Canisius
St. John of the Cross
St. Robert Bellarmine
St. Albertus Magnus
St. Anthony of Padua
St. Lawrence of Brindisi

The following were added after Vatican II:

St. Teresa of Avila
St. Catherine of Siena
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
St. John of Avila
St. Hildegard of Bingen
St. Gregory of Narek

1 comment(s):

del_button July 18, 2011 at 10:05 PM
Pipoy said...

St. Thomas of Aquinas if one of my favorite doctor saint.

Post a Comment



Copyright Notice: Unless otherwise stated, all items are copyrighted under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. If you quote from this blog, cite a link to the post on this blog in your article.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links on this blog are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate, for instance, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made by those who click on the Amazon affiliate links included on this website. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”