- Feb 5, 2002
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On June 28, the Catholic Church celebrates St. Irenaeus of Lyon, who as a boy sat at the feet of Polycarp, eagerly listening to the sermons of the early Christian bishop and disciple of the apostle John.
The boy Irenaeus grew up to write vastly influential documents that witnessed to the early Church’s understanding of topics ranging from the Old Testament to the Eucharist.
Though he has long been considered an early Church father, Pope Francis named him the 27th doctor of the Church in 2022, more than 1,800 years after his death, naming him “Doctor Unitatis,” or Doctor of Unity.
While his work was foundational to the Church, Irenaeus did not consider himself a scholar, and his most famous work, “Against Heresies,” written in about 185 A.D., stemmed from a pastoral desire to defend the Church from the rampant heresy of Gnosticism.
Continued below.
The legacy of St. Irenaeus of Lyon, doctor of unity
Irenaeus grew up to write vastly influential documents that witnessed to the early Church’s understanding of topics ranging from the Old Testament to the Eucharist.
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