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Detail from a 1750 painting of Saint Peter Damian, a Doctor of the Church, by Andrea Barbiani (1708-1779) (Image: Wikipedia)

By Dawn Beutner, Catholic World Report, February 20, 2024

Dawn Beutner is the author of The Leaven of the Saints: Bringing Christ into a Fallen World (Ignatius Press, 2023), and Saints: Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year also from Ignatius Press. …

 

The writings of this 11th-century Doctor of the Church cover a wide range of important topics, and he is often favorably compared to John the Baptist for his courage in speaking out about the need for Church reform and for personal repentance.

In 1298, Pope Boniface VIII decided to name four saints as Doctors of the Church to recognize their excellence as teachers of the Catholic faith and to honor the enduring impact of their thought on the Church.1 Since then, eighteen other popes have conferred that same title on thirty-three other men and women.2

Some saints, such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, earned the designation of Doctor of the Church through their many writings about theology and philosophy. Athanasius of Alexandria, on the other hand, was honored for his tireless defense of the faith against a wildly popular heresy. ….

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