Doctors of the Church

views updated May 14 2018

Doctors of the Church. Title given by the Roman Catholic Church to certain saints who were also outstanding theologians. The first to be named were Gregory the Great, Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome, by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298.

The title doctor is also unofficially used with distinguishing adjectives for the various scholastic teachers, e.g. Doctor Angelicus ( Thomas Aquinas), Doctor universalis (Albertus Magnus), etc.