Doctor of the Church
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In Catholicism, a Doctor of the Church (Latin doctor, teacher, from Latin docere, to teach) is a saint from whose writings the whole Christian Church is held to have derived great advantage and to whom "eminent learning" and "great sanctity" have been attributed by a proclamation of a pope or of an ecumenical council. This honor is given rarely, only posthumously, and only after canonization. No ecumenical council has yet exercised the prerogative of proclaiming a Doctor of the Church.
Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Pope Gregory I were the original Doctors of the Church and were named in 1298. They are known collectively as the Great Doctors of the Western Church. The four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianus, and Athanasius were recognized in 1568 by Pope St. Pius V. Although the revered Catalan philosopher Ramon Llull was dubbed "Doctor Illuminatus," he is not officially considered a Doctor of the Church.
The Doctors' works vary greatly in subject and form. Some, such as Pope Gregory I and Ambrose were prominent writers of letters and short treatises. Catherine of Siena and John of the Cross wrote mystical theology. Augustine and Bellarmine defended the Church against heresy. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People provides the best information on England in the early middle ages. Systematic theologians include the Scholastic philosophers Anselm, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas (Aquinas is also seen as one of the most significant medieval thinkers of Western Europe).
Until 1970, no woman had been named a Doctor of the Church, but since then three additions to the list have been women. In this regard, it is interesting to quote a line from the New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), "...it would seem that no woman is likely to be named because of the link between this title and the teaching office, which is limited to males."
The Catholic Church has to date named 33 Doctors of the Church. Of these, the 17 who died before the formal disunion of the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054 are also venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Among these 33 are 25 from the West and 8 from the East (=33); 14 diocesan priests, 16 religious priests and 3 women (=33); 18 bishops, 9 priests, 1 deacon, 2 nuns and 1 lay woman (=33); 24 from Europe, 3 from Africa, 6 from Asia (=33).
[edit] List of Doctors of the Church
*Also venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church.
1No other word seems to describe this category. In general the entries are of the land of birth or the home of the family.
2Ambrose was born in Trier, Germany, but his parents were from Rome, where his mother took him on the death of his father.
3At the time of his birth, Bagnorea was part of the Papal States.
4In 1032, this part of the Kingdom of Burgundy was conquered by the House of Savoy.
5At the time of his birth, his birth city Imola was included in one of the four Italian provinces of the Western Roman Empire.
6At the time of his birth, Ravenna was part of the Papal States.
7His parentage uncertain, he was raised and educated in Jerusalem.
8Technically he was not a Syrian. He was born in Nisibis, a city on the border of the Roman Empire and Persia. In 363 he left the city when it was ceded to the Persians and moved to Edessa.
9St. Catherine was a Dominican tertiary. She never took vows as part of a religious community. Thus she remained a lay woman.
