Father of the Church
n : (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period
from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established
and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman
Catholic Church some were later declared saints and
became Doctor of the Church; the best known Lation Church
Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and
Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius,
Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom [syn: Church
Father, Father]