Pillar III · Tradition
Fathers, Saints and Teachers on the Last Things
From the second century to our own, holy men and women have pondered the end of the world and the coming of Christ. Their words carry different kinds of weight, so each one here is labeled.
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Who speaks here, and with what weight
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Father of the Church | An early Christian writer of holy life and orthodox teaching whom the Church recognizes as a witness to Tradition. Where the Fathers agree, their witness carries great weight. |
| Doctor of the Church | A saint formally declared a teacher of the whole Church for the depth and soundness of their teaching. |
| Saint | Canonized for holiness. A saint's private visions or predictions are not thereby approved as true. |
| Approved teacher | A priest or theologian writing in communion with the Church, with ecclesiastical approval where given. A respected voice, not an authority. |
Even the greatest of these witnesses could be wrong on details of the end times; several Fathers, for example, expected the end in their own day. This site quotes them for their insight, gives the source of every quotation, and never treats a prediction as settled.
The first witnesses
These pages are planned first, beginning with the writers whose works deal most directly with the Antichrist and Revelation.
| Witness | Work | Standing |
|---|---|---|
| St. Irenaeus of Lyons (died c. 202) | Against Heresies, Book V | Father; Doctor of the Church (2022) |
| St. Hippolytus of Rome (died c. 235) | On Christ and Antichrist | Father; saint and martyr |
| St. Victorinus of Pettau (died c. 304) | Commentary on the Apocalypse | Father; saint and martyr |
| St. Cyril of Jerusalem (died 386) | Catechetical Lectures, 15 | Father; Doctor of the Church |
| St. Augustine of Hippo (died 430) | The City of God, Book XX | Father; Doctor of the Church |
| St. John Henry Newman (died 1890) | The Patristical Idea of Antichrist (Advent 1835) | Saint; Doctor of the Church (2025) |
| St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) (died 1942) | The Marriage of the Lamb (1940), a meditation on Revelation 19; Ave Crux, Spes Unica (1939); her 1933 letter to Pope Pius XI | Saint and martyr; co-patroness of Europe |
| Pope St. John Paul II (died 2005) | Redemptoris Mater (1987) and Evangelium Vitae (1995) on the woman and the dragon of Revelation 12; his reading of Fatima | Saint; pope |
| Fr. Charles Arminjon (died 1885) | The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life (1881) | Approved teacher |
| Fr. Vincent P. Miceli, S.J. (died 1991) | The Antichrist (1981) | Approved teacher |
Why Arminjon and MiceliFr. Arminjon's conferences on the last things so moved St. Thérèse of Lisieux that she copied passages from them; she said reading the book was one of the greatest graces of her life. Fr. Miceli's The Antichrist gathers Scripture, the Fathers and the Church's teaching on the man of lawlessness. Both are read here as teachers, with their standing labeled.