Definition: Patres
Ecclesiae / Fathers of the Church
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Patres Ecclesiae is
Latin for "Fathers of the Church", also called "Early Church Fathers"...
"FATHERS OF THE
CHURCH, The, or simply the Fathers. i. All those writers of the first twelve
centuries whose works on Christian doctrine are considered of weight and worthy
of respect. They include Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Palladius,
Maximus the Confessor.
ii. More
strictly, those teachers of the first twelve, and especially of the first six,
centuries, who added notable holiness and complete orthodoxy to their great
learning. The chief are, the
Doctors of the Church up to and including St. Bernard; St. Clement of Rome
(1st cent.); SS. Ignatius of Antioch, Justin, Irenæus, Polycarp (2nd cent.); SS.
Cyprian, Dionysius (3rd cent.); SS. Optatus and Epiphanius (4th cent.); St.
Vincent of Lerins (5th cent.); St. Cæsarius of Aries (6th cent.). The authority
of these fathers is great though not unlimited; but when they show a morally
unanimous consent on a point of doctrine it is considered decisive." (Catholic
Dictionary)
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