St. Polycarp of Smyrna was a man with many connections. He knew the Apostle John, and St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Irenaeus of Lyon, and Pope Anicetus, and the arch-heretic Marcion. He also sought the company of many elders who...

St. Ignatius of Antioch is the first of the Fathers to leave us abundant writings. His seven letters are passionate—warm, yet authoritative—spontaneous, but doctrinally rich. Written in 107 A.D. as the aged bishop traveled from...

With this episode author Mike Aquilina begins his twice-monthly series on the lives, times, and works of the early Church Fathers. The Way of the Fathers begins with answers to basic questions. What is fatherhood? And who are the...

Forget the Dale Carnegie course. Here’s how to win skeptical friends and influence pagans. Read the second-century Letter to Diognetus. The author’s name is lost to history, but his warm, winsome overture still stands as a model of...

Clement of Rome led a Church in turmoil. Its people were deeply divided. The secular culture was hostile to the faith. Across the ocean from the Eternal City the laity were rising up in rebellion against the clergy. And it was only 67 A.D. St....

Through one man’s witness, monasticism took the world by storm. Anthony of Egypt became history’s least probable celebrity. He gave up his money and possessions. He couldn’t read or write. He fled to the desert to be alone with God. Yet he drew disciples wherever he went. His...

All Christians respected the authority of Scripture, but already in the fifth century the Church was riven by conflicting interpretations of Scripture. A monk in Gaul, Vincent of Lerins, developed a formula to determine true doctrine from false. “All possible care must be taken,”...

Peter Chrysologus is known as the “Doctor of Homilies,” and he always preached with brevity. Every word was golden. He was archbishop of Ravenna during that city’s brief term as capital of the Western...

Ever wonder how Bible study was done in the early Church? It was done with chains. The CATENA did the work that Bible software does for us today. It did the work of concordances and even entire shelves of commentaries. Catena is Latin for chain, and the links in these long-ago chains were...

Augustine of Hippo is a name that appears on any short list of the most influential intellectuals in the history of the world. He seemed to live several productive lifetimes in the course of his own. In this first of three episodes on Augustine,...