Doctor of the Church

Among the 37 recognised Doctors, 28 are from the West and nine from the East; four are women and thirty-three are men; one is an abbess, three are nuns, and one is a tertiary associated with a religious order; two are popes, 19 are bishops, twelve are priests, and one is a deacon; and 27 are from Europe, three are from Africa, and seven are from Asia.

The "four Doctors" became a commonplace notion among scholastic theologians, and a decree of Boniface VIII (1298) ordering their feasts to be kept as doubles throughout the Latin Church is contained in his sixth book of Decretals (cap.

In the Menaea for that day it is related that the three Doctors appeared in a dream to John Mauropous, Bishop of Euchaita, and commanded him to institute a festival in their honour, in order to put a stop to the rivalries of their votaries and panegyrists.

The requisite conditions are enumerated as three: eminens doctrina, insignis vitae sanctitas, Ecclesiae declaratio (i.e. eminent learning, a high degree of sanctity, and proclamation by the church).

Hence, as Benedict XIV pointed out during his pontificate, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyons, and Cyprian of Carthage were not called Doctors of the Church.

Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross and Therese of Lisieux wrote works of mystical theology.

Traditionally, in the Liturgy, the Office of Doctors was distinguished from that of Confessors by two changes: the Gospel reading Vos estis sal terrae ("You are the salt of the earth"), Matthew 5:13–19, and the eighth Respond at Matins, from Ecclesiasticus 15:5, In medio Ecclesiae aperuit os ejus, * Et implevit eum Deus spiritu sapientiae et intellectus.

[citation needed] On 20 August 2011, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would soon declare John of Ávila a Doctor of the Church.

[7] It was also reported in December 2011 that Pope Benedict intended to declare Hildegard of Bingen as a Doctor of the Church, though she had not yet been canonized.

Dogmatic Works: Moral Theology, The Council of Trent, The Histories of Heresies and their Refutation, Truth of the Faith In October 2018, on the occasion of the canonization of Oscar Romero, martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar Alas, the current Archbishop of San Salvador, petitioned Pope Francis to name Romero a Doctor of the Church.

[22] In October 2019, the Polish Catholic Bishops Conference formally petitioned Pope Francis to consider making Pope John Paul II a Doctor of the Church in an official proclamation, in recognition of his contributions to theology, philosophy, and Catholic literature, as well as the formal documents of his papacy.

[24][25] In January 2024, Archbishop Georg Gänswein also spoke in favor of the pontiff's canonization and his elevation to the status of doctor of the church.

[26] In November 2023, the USCCB voted to support a petition by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales for the Vatican to name John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church.

[28] In April 2024, during a private audience Pope Francis received a formal request from the superior general of the Discalced Carmelites, Miguel Márquez Calle, to declare Teresa Benedicta of the Cross a Doctor of the Church.

In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical Spe Salvi, called Maximus the Confessor "the great Greek Doctor of the Church",[32] though the Congregation for the Causes of Saints considers this declaration an informal one.

[35][36][37] The Chaldean Catholic Church honours as doctor Polycarp, Eustathius of Antioch, Meletius, Alexander of Jerusalem, Athanasius, Basil, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Fravitta of Constantinople, Ephrem the Syrian, Jacob of Nisibis, Jacob of Serugh, Isaac of Armenia, Isaac of Nineveh, and Maruthas of Martyropolis.

One consistent use of the category is the trio of Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom, recognized as universal teachers and known as the Three Holy Hierarchs.

Isidore of Seville , a seventh-century Doctor of the Church, depicted by Murillo ( c. 1628 ) with a book, which is a common iconographical attribute for a doctor
Hildegard von Bingen was an eleventh-century Doctor of the Church, depicted here by Marshall with a book, the common iconographical attribute for a doctor
The Four Great Doctors of the Western Church were often depicted in art, here by Pier Francesco Sacchi , c. 1516 . From the left: Saint Augustine , Pope Gregory I , Saint Jerome , and Saint Ambrose , with their attributes .