Doctors of the Church

A Doctor of the Church is a saint whose writings and teaching the Church recommends to the whole world. The Catholic Encyclopedia names three conditions: eminent learning, a high degree of sanctity, and proclamation by the Church. The first four — Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Gregory the Great — were honoured by a decree of Pope Boniface VIII in 1298; the most recent, St John Henry Newman, was proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV on 1 November 2025.

Proclamations from the Catholic Encyclopedia (to 1899) and the Holy See’s own documents and Catholic sources for each later Doctor, linked on every card.