Carmelite Saints and Doctors of the Church


Saint Teresa of Jesus - Doctor of the Church

Virgin and Doctor of the Church, born at Avila, Spain in 1515. As a member of the Carmelite Order she made great progress in perfection and received mystical revelations. As reformer of our Order she underwent many trials which she intrepidly overcame. She also wrote books of the greatest spiritual value which reflect her own experiences. She died at Alba in 1582.

Saint John of the Cross -Doctor of the Church

Priest and Doctor of the Church, John de Yepes was born in 1542 at Fontiveros, Spain and entered the Carmelite Order in 1563. In 1568 he became one of the first friars of the Discalced reform, taking the name John of the Cross. He was an heroic defender of the reform for the rest of his life. He died at Ubeda in 1591, and from that time he has enjoyed great esteem for sanctity and for the spiritual wisdom to which his writings testify.

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face -Doctor of the Church

Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Therese Martin was born at Alencon, France in 1873. At the age of fifteen she entered the Carmel of Lisieux. She practiced heroic humility, evangelical simplicity and trust in God, and taught the novices these virtues by word and example. She offered her life for the salvation of souls and the spread of the faith. After her death in 1897, her “Little Way” of holiness spread around the world.

The title “Doctor of the Church,” unlike the popular title “Father of the Church,” is an official designation that is bestowed by the Pope in recognition of the outstanding contribution a person has made to the understanding and interpretation of the sacred Scriptures and the development of Christian doctrine.

As of 2021, the official list includes thirty-six men and women who hail from all ages of the Church’s history. Of these, four on the list are women (Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen) and twenty-four are quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Those who are not quoted are Saints Ephraem, Isidore, “the Venerable” Bede, Albert the Great, Anthony of Padua, Peter Canisius, Robert Bellarmine, John of Avila, Hildegard of Bingen, Gregory of Narek and Lawrence of Brindisi).

The definition of the term “Doctor of the Church” is based on the three requirements that must be fulfilled by a person in order to merit being included in the ranks of the “Doctors of the Catholic Church”:

1) holiness that is truly outstanding, even among saints;

2) depth of doctrinal insight; and

3) an extensive body of writings which the church can recom­mend as an expression of the authentic and life-giving Catholic Tradition.

Read the entire article by Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio : Doctors of the Catholic Church-Definition and Complete List