“[The Church] is called Catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men concerning things visible and invisible…because it universally treats and heals every...
“Zeal for the salvation of souls is of so great a merit before God, that to give up all our goods to the poor, or to spend our whole life in the exercises of all sorts of austerities cannot equal the merit of it. There is no service more agreeable...
“The most high and infinitely good God has not granted to angels the power with which He has invested priests.” St. John Chrysostom (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “[about the life of a bishop]The turbulent have to be corrected, the faint-hearted cheered up, the weak supported; the Gospel’s opponents...
“Being obedient, Mary became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” St. Irenaeus (2nd-3rd centuries) “Obedience is, in a way, the mother of all virtues.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “Obedience unites us so closely to God that in a...
“The sainted martyrs…have inspired aged men to accomplish with much love a long course, and constrained them to support their failing steps by the staff of the Word; and they have stimulated women to finish their course like the young men, and have brought to this, too, those of tender...
“God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the twelve [minor prophets], as I said before, about the sacrifices at that time presented by you: ‘I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands; for from the rising of...
“Let no one lead you astray; the most pernicious kind of sin is the failure to realize one’s own sinfullness.” St. Caesarius of Arles (5th-6th centuries) “Nor did demons crucify Him, it is you who have crucified Him and crucify Him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.”...
“Either we must speak as we dress, or dress as we speak. Why do we profess one thing and display another? The tongue talks of chastity, but the whole body reveals impurity.” St. Jerome (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “He that is chaste before marriage, much more will be...
“If material things please you, take occasion from them to praise God, and turn your love from them toward Him Who made them, lest in these things that please you, you displease Him.” St. Augustine of Hippo (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “Whatever you possess must not...
“I feel an indescribable pleasure in reading the Acts of the Martyrs; but when the Martyr is a woman, my enthusiasm is doubled. For the frailer the instrument, the great is the grace, the brighter the trophy, the grander the victory; and this, not because of her weakness, but because...