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We continue our series on the Doctors of the Church. Today we meet St. Cyril of Alexandria (376?-444). Cyril succeeded his uncle Theophilus as the Patriarch (Archbishop) of Alexandria, Egypt in 414. His early years were marked by impulsive, often violent actions. He closed and often destroyed churches of the followers of the Novatian heresy. Cyril participated in the deposing of St. John Chrysostom. He confiscated Jewish property and expelled the Jews from Alexandria in retaliation for their attacks on Christians. Early in his time as archbishop the pagan woman-philosopher Hypatia was brutally murdered. Even though Cyril bore no personal responsibility for her death, her murder was certainly carried out by his supporters.

“Late have I loved you. Beauty at once so and so new; late have I loved you. Behold, you were within, and I outside where I was seeking you and was dashing against the beautiful things you made in my unsightly way. You were with me, and I was not with you” (Confessions 10.27). This famous quote is by St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), who is considered by many to be the most famous and influential of the western Fathers of the Church and perhaps the most famous theologian in the history of the Church. He was one of the four original Doctors of the Church proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1295.

One day Pope Sixtus V (1521 -1590) was looking at a painting of Saint Jerome (ca. 347-419/20) striking his breast with a stone. After viewing it for a few moments, Sixtus remarked. “You do well to carry that stone, for without it the Church would never have canonized you.”

I continue this series on the Doctors of the Church. Today I am writing about Saint John Chrysostom (344/54-407), who was born in Antioch in Syria. Chrysostom was not his last name. The name really means “the man with a golden mouth”—a reference to his gifts as a preacher and a public speaker. John’s father died when he was a baby. His mother, Anthusa, raised him. John studied under Libanius, a famous rhetorician in fourth century Antioch.