`Father' is a term of address for priests in some churches (especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox Catholic Church); `Padre' is frequently used in the military | (Roman Catholic Church) an Italian pope distinguished for his spiritual and temporal leadership; a saint and Doctor of the Church (540?-604) |
God when considered as the first person in the Trinity | the Italian pope who fought to establish the supremacy of the pope over the Roman Catholic Church and the supremacy of the church over the state (1020-1085) |
(Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom | the Italian pope from 1406 to 1415 who worked to end the Great Schism and who retired to make it possible (1327-1417) |
| the pope who sponsored the introduction of the modern calendar (1572-1585) |
| Italian pope from 1831 to 1846; conservative in politics and theology; worked to propagate Catholicism in England and the United States (1765-1846) |
| (Roman Catholic Church) a church father known for his constant fight against perceived heresies; a saint and Doctor of the Church (329-391) |