Last column, I mentioned three saints newly added to our liturgical calendar as optional memorials. These three all happen to be “doctors of the Church.”
This designation may be confusing to us. We commonly use the term “doctor” to refer to a physician. We have to keep in mind that the original meaning of “doctor” is “teacher.” Merriam-Webster’s first definition of “doctor” is “a religious scholar who is eminent in theological learning and personal holiness and usually an expounder and defender of established doctrine.”
From ancient times, Ss. Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great were esteemed as the Great Latin Fathers, while Ss. Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, and John Chrysostom were hailed as the Great Greek Fathers. The Catholic Church lists 36 doctors of the Church. The method for declaring someone a doctor has varied over the centuries. The customary criteria for qualifying as a doctor are: eminent learning, a high degree of sanctity, and proclamation by the Church. Currently, the procedure for proclaiming a doctor is by a decree issued by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
It is impossible, within the confines of this column, to discuss all 36 doctors. It is possible at least to sample some of their very powerful writings.
The works of St. Augustine (354-430) are widely available. His autobiography, the Confessions, chronicles his conversion and his amazement: “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. … You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.”
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), for whom the Decatur high school is named, can be very blunt about our lack of response to God’s gifts: “My Lord, you know that we are less submissive to the will of your Father. … You see, the gift our Lord intends for us may be by far the best, but if it is not what we wanted we are quite capable of flinging it back in his face. That is the kind of people we are; ready cash is the only wealth we understand.”
St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) writes about surrender to God: “Seek the answer in God’s grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research; seek the bridegroom not the teacher; God and not man; darkness not daylight; and look not to the light but rather to the raging fire that carries the soul to God with intense fervor and glowing love. The fire is God, and the furnace is in Jerusalem, fired by Christ in the ardor of his loving passion.”
Doctors of the Church could be understood to be “physicians of the soul.” In their writings, they probe deeply into the mysteries of each person’s bond with the God who has created each of us, knows us intimately, and has even died for us. As we ponder the ultimate mystery of our passing from this life, we know that the Word Made Flesh has already been there and has personally won fullness of life for us.