February 20, 2022 - "Saint Irenaeus, Doctor of the Church"

On January 21, 2022 Pope Francis issued a decree declaring Saint Irenaeus to be a Doctor of the Church after receiving and accepting a proposal to that effect from the Congregation of the Saints.  Irenaeus is the first Doctor of the Church believed to have been a martyr.  Since he died around 202, Irenaeus holds the distinction of being the most ancient of the Church’s now thirty-seven Doctors of the Church.  Saint Irenaeus would be most remembered today as the earliest systematic theologian for his authentic teaching of the Church’s faith and defense of it in the face of errors that were emerging in the late second and early third centuries.  St. Irenaeus remains a relevant model for bishops, apologists, catechists, and theologians owing to his articulation of the Gnostic heresies that are still with us today in various forms.
 
The autobiographical details that we have for his life are meager.  Few primary sources on him exist.  The only complete texts of his work exist today in later translations.  Irenaeus was born around the year 130.  Most likely he came from Smyrna (on the western edge of what is now Turkey).  From an early age Irenaeus was associated with St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who was martyred at the age of 86.  Polycarp himself had been associated with the Saint John the Apostle.
 
At some point Irenaeus moved from Smyrna to the Roman region of Gaul, which encompassed a large part of Western Europe (including all of present day France).  He exercised ministry in what is now called Lyon - called Lugdunum in the time of Irenaeus.  Lugdunum was in the second and early third centuries the largest city north of the Alps.  It was a civic and cultural center as well as a population hub.  The population growth of Lugdunum was owed to an influx of immigrants (including Irenaeus).  Irenaeus arrived there as a missionary, according to tradition, at the direction of Polycarp to help solidify church life in that blossoming part of the Roman Empire.  Toward the late 170s Irenaeus was a priest held in esteem within the local Church.
 
In 177 Irenaeus was sent to Rome to deliver a letter to Pope Eleutherius that was written by a group of Christians in Lugdunum who were being held captive and awaiting execution. The letter, which expressed concerns about threats to the unity of faith that were emerging in the early Church, exists as the first piece of historical evidence of Irenaeus.  Just as our Lord Jesus Christ prayed before his death that the Church might be one, these martyrs followed his example and did the same.  Irenaeus, whose name means “peace” in Greek, served as an emissary of peace and unity by allowing their message to be heard in Rome.  Most likely this trip to Rome served to spare him from being martyred along with Saint Pothinus, the first bishop of Lugdunum, and his companions. 

Upon his return from Rome, Irenaeus succeeded the martyred Pothinus as bishop of Lugdunum.  Irenaeus brought hope to his flock as he oversaw the rebuilding of ecclesial life in the city in the wake of persecution and martyrdom.  Most of what remains known about the episcopal ministry of Irenaeus is his clear and systematic presentation of the Faith.  This seems particularly appropriate since Irenaeus regarded a bishop, above all other functions, primarily as a teacher.  Irenaeus helped to develop the concept of apostolic succession.  This helped to solidify the ministry of the bishop in the early Church and underscored the bishop’s authority in handing on the Church’s apostolic teaching.  An example of his contribution to elevate esteem for the Roman see, Irenaeus produced one of the earliest lists of the first bishops of Rome.  Given his ties to St. John the Apostle, by way of his mentor St. Polycarp, Irenaeus served as a credible and public witness to the apostolic ministry.
 
I will talk about what St. Irenaeus taught and why he is still significant next week.  Let me close today by mentioning that Irenaeus is a saint who is close to my heart.  Around the time I was finishing my doctoral dissertation in 1982, I promised Father Dominic Unger, a Capuchin friar whom I had known for many years and who was dying of cancer that I would see to the publication of his translation and commentary of “Against Heresies,” the major work of Irenaeus.  So far three of the five volumes of the translation and commentary have been published.  I hope that the naming of Saint Irenaeus as a Doctor of the Church will prove to be the impetus for the publication of the two remaining volumes of the translation of and commentary on “Against Heresies.”
 
Until next week,
Fr. John