VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis officially declared St. Irenaeus of Lyon a Doctor of the Church in a decree released by the Vatican on January 21. The pope ordered that the second-century theologian be given the title of “doctor of unity” and said St. Irenaeus’ life and teachings served as “a spiritual and theological bridge between Eastern and Western Christians.”
He said, “May the doctrine of such a great teacher increasingly encourage the journey of all the Lord’s disciples toward full communion.”
During a meeting with Pope Francis on January 20, Marcello Cardinal Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, asked the pope to “accept the affirmative opinion” of the cardinals and bishops who are congregation members to confer the title on the saint, who was known for his defense of orthodoxy amid the rise of gnostic sects.
St. Irenaeus is the second Doctor of the Church named by Pope Francis after St. Gregory of Narek, who was given the designation in 2015. This brings the total number of Doctors of the Church to 37.
Born in Smyrna, Asia Minor—now modern-day Turkey—St. Irenaeus was known as a staunch defender of the faith.
Concerned about the rise of gnostic sects within the early Christian Church, he wrote Adversus haereses [Against Heresies], a refutation of gnostic beliefs that emphasised personal spiritual knowledge over faith in Christian teachings and in ecclesiastical authority.
In October, the pope had told members of the St. Irenaeus Joint Orthodox-Catholic Working Group, “Your patron, St. Irenaeus of Lyon—whom I will soon declare a Doctor of the Church with the title, doctor unitatis [doctor of unity]—came from the East, exercised his episcopal ministry in the West, and was a great spiritual and theological bridge between Eastern and Western Christians,” he said.
Pope Francis also signed decrees recognising three sainthood candidates: Archbishop Francesco Saverio Toppi, the former bishop of Pompei, who was known for his devotion to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, who was born in 1925 and died in 2007; Italian Sister Maria Teresa De Vincenti, founder of the Little Workers of the Sacred Heart, who was born in 1872 and died in 1936; and Italian Sister Gabriella Borgarino, a member of the Daughters of Charity, who was born in 1880 and died in 1949.
