Fathers of the Church (Patres Ecclesiastici), a term which, strictly used, denotes only certain early writers of unimpeachable orthodoxy and eminent sanctity, who have been accepted by the church as duly qualified exponents of her doctrines. The title of 'father' was given in early times to all bishops, confessors, and heads of monasteries (see ABBOT); but the expression 'fathers of the church' has become restricted to this more definite sense, while those writers whose heterodoxy is manifest are called simply Scriptores Ecclesiastici ('Church-writers'). The title of 'fathers,' however, is often bestowed on some, such as Origen and Tertullian, the errors in whose writings are overlooked for the sake of the value of their orthodox contents. Historians are generally agreed in excluding from the patristic period the Apostolic Fathers (q.v.), and in dating its commencement from the 2d century; but there is no unanimity regarding the time at which it may be said to have closed. In the Greek Church the period is often brought down to the Council of Florence (1441). Roman Catholic writers include within its limits all writers who were witnesses to the Catholic doctrine of the church during the first twelve centuries of the Christian era, or even down to the Council of Trent; moreover, in 1871-78 Saints Alfonso de Liguori and Francis de Sales, the former of whom died so late as 1787, were raised to the dignity of Doctores Ecclesiæ. But there appears no good reason why Anselm and Bernard and those that immediately follow them should be removed from the list of the schoolmen, and the patristic period may conveniently be taken to have closed for the Eastern Church with John of Damascus (756), and for the Western with Gregory the Great (604). Even Roman Catholic theologians acknowledge the higher value and importance of the fathers of the first six centuries. Arranged in the order of their deaths, chief among the ante-Nicene fathers are Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, and Gregory Thaumaturgus; while the post-Nicene fathers include Ensebius of Cæsarea, Hilary of Poitiers, Athanasius, Basil, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and John of Damascus. For all these, see separate articles, as well as for many of the other early writers whom the Latin Church includes in the list. In both divisions of the church four authors are recognised as fathers per eminentiam: in the East, Athanasius, Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen; in the West, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory. The study of the life and writings of the fathers is sometimes regarded as constituting a distinct discipline, known as patristics or patrology; but this practically constitutes a study of the church's history during the first six centuries. See CHURCH HISTORY. With respect to the authority of the fathers, the Roman Catholic position is that the teaching of individual fathers is to be accepted or rejected on its merits, and their evidence as witnesses to the tradition of the church, either singly or when several concur, is to receive so much credence as may appear due after the quality and circumstances of the testimony have been considered; but their morally unanimous consent is held to carry decisive authority in matters of faith. Protestant writers, on the other hand, while acknowledging the merits of the patristic writings, and recognising in many important points a consensus patrum, dwell upon the admitted fallibility of the authors, and insist upon the sufficiency of Holy Scripture, as containing 'all things necessary to salvation.' See EXEGESIS; also INFALLIBILITY.
Editions of individual fathers are noted under their separate articles. Collective editions are De la Bigne's Maxima bibliotheca veterum Patrum (Paris, 1575; improved ed. 27 vols. Leyden, 1677—the Greek writings translated into Latin); Galland's Bibliotheca veterum Patrum (14 vols. Venice, 1765–81); and Migne's exhaustive Patrologiae cursus completus (387 vols. Paris, 1844–66). This last is continued in Horoy's Medii ævi bibliotheca patristica, sive Patrologia ab anno 1216 usque ad concil. Tridentinum (1st series, Doctores eccl. lat., Paris, 1879 et seq.). Also the Vienna Academy has been issuing since 1866 a Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, based on a critical comparison of MSS.; a fifth of the series, which will be completed in about 100 volumes, had appeared down to 1889. English translations are numerous. Clark's Ante-Nicene Library (Edin. 1864–71) is complete in 24 vols., and the Library of the Fathers (Lond. 1838–85), edited by Pusey, Keble, Newman, and others, extends to 48 vols. There is a Select Library of the Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers (New York; 9 vols. down to 1889), edited by Dr Philip Schaff; and the useful series of Fathers for English Readers (S.P.C.K., 11 vols. 1878–84) likewise deserves mention. See also Farrar's Lives of the Fathers (2 vols. Edin. 1889).