Elizabeth Hannick: Review: The Fathers of the Church: From Clement of Rome to Augustine of Hippo. By Pope Benedict XVI. Edited and annotated by Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J.. Eerdmans. 179 pages. $15.

New Oxford Review
December 2011

Every week when he is in Rome, with a few exceptions, the Holy Father holds a general audience during which he delivers a sermon directed to all the faithful ... Often, the topic of today’s Pope is the heroic life of a particular saint, perhaps one with relevance to a current situation, or whose feast is honored.

For several audiences from 2007 to 2008, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on the Fathers of the Church, and these talks have now been collected for wider dissemination. Unlike the Doctors of the Church, who are spread across the ages and relatively few in number, the Fathers of the Church are more numerous, less likely to be saints, and all lived in the years of the Church’s infancy, by most reckonings prior to the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451).

More at http://www.newoxfordreview.org/briefly.jsp?did=1211-briefly

Tomassus:

Thank you for bringing this work to the attention of the group, and just in time for Christmas! I read the full review / synopsis at the link provided , and it seems this may well be a unique read for those of us who are early Church history buffs. I'll add it to my "wish list" for St. Nicholas ...

God bless!
Joe