The ''Library of the Fathers'', more properly ''A library of fathers of the holy Catholic church: anterior to the division of the East and West'', was a series of around 50 volumes of the

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

, annotated in English translation, published 1838 to 1881 by John Henry Parker. Edited by Edward Bouverie Pusey and others including

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, was named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...

and

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

, this series of editions is closely associated with the origins of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

Overview

The series was planned by Pusey in summer 1836, and Pusey, Keble and Newman jointly signed the Prospectus which announced it. Over 600 subscribers had been secured by 1838, including nine English bishops as well as both Archbishops,

William Howley William Howley (12 February 1766 – 11 February 1848) was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848. Early life, education, and interests Howley was born in 1766 at Ropley, Hampshire, whe ...

and Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt.Richard W. Pfaff, The Library of the Fathers: The Tractarians as Patristic Translators, ''Studies in Philology'', Vol. 70, No. 3 (Jul., 1973), pp. 329-344 By 1853 thirty-seven volumes had appeared, and the number of listed subscribers had doubled to over 1,200.Pfaff rejects as 'fanciful' the figure of over 3,700 subscribers claimed in Henry Liddon's ''Life of Pusey'', and followed by the ''DNB''. However, by that time editorial costs were swallowing any profits, and the fragmentation of the Oxford Movement had also caused some of the early subscribers to discontinue their support. The new Archbishops, John Bird Sumner and Thomas Musgrave, never subscribed. "After 1853 ..there is a clear sense of the winding down of the series." Though most of the works in the library were translations, a few were editions of original texts. The first volume issued, in 1838, was a translation edited by Pusey of

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...

's ''Confessions''; the last, in 1881, were works of

Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria ( grc, Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας; cop, Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ Ⲕⲩⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲩ ⲁ̅ also ⲡⲓ̀ⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲕⲓⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲥ; 376 – 444) was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444 ...

. There were sixteen volumes of

Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ab ...

published in the Library, twelve of Augustine, five of Athanasius and four of Gregory the Great on

Job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...

. Most translations in the series were signed. Some anonymous translations may be due to

Charles Marriott Charles Stowell "Father" Marriott (14 September 1895 – 13 October 1966) was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Lancashire, Cambridge University and Kent. Marriott played between 1919 and 1938 and was considered one of th ...

, who replaced Newman as editor after Newman converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, and who "shouldered the greatest part of the editorial burden from 1845 to 1853".

Notes

{{reflist Christian theology books Publications of patristic texts Series of books

Overview

See also

Notes