Doctor of the Church-Navigating the Interior Life Spiritual Dictionary

Doctor of the Church

DOCTOR of the CHURCH: A title given since the Middle Ages to certain saints whose writing or preaching is outstanding for guiding the faithful in all periods of the Church’s history.

This Spiritual Dictionary Term is an excerpt from the Glossary of Dan’s book Navigating the Interior Life – Spiritual Direction and the Journey to God. To learn more, click here.

We have an excellent post on our site on the term Doctor of the Church titled: Who are the Doctors of the Church and Why Should I Care? To access it, click here. Since that post was written, the Church has added three more Doctors of the Church to the list that stood at 33 Doctors, which was reached when St John Paul II added St Thérèse of Lisieux as a Doctor of the Church in 1997. Those who have been named to the list since then and who now hold the title are:

St Hildegard of Bingen – named by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012,
St John of Avila – named by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, and
St Gregory of Narek – named by Pope Francis in February, 2015.

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Dan Burke

Dan Burke is the past President and C.O.O. of EWTN's worldwide news network. He is presently the founder and President of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, which offers graduate and personal enrichment studies in spiritual theology to priests, deacons, religious, and laity in 90 countries and prepares men for seminary in over 40 dioceses. Dan is the author and editor of numerous books on authentic Catholic spirituality and hosts the Divine Intimacy Radio show with his wife, Stephanie, which is broadcast weekly on EWTN Radio. Past episodes can be found, along with thousands of articles on the interior life, at SpiritualDirection.com. In his deep commitment to the advancement of faithful Catholic spirituality, he is also the founder of Apostoli Viae, a world-wide, private association of the faithful dedicated to living and advancing the authentic spiritual patrimony of the Church. Most importantly, Dan is a blessed husband, father of four, grandfather of one—and grateful to be Catholic.