Source : WordNet®

Father of the Church
     n : (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 Lation Church
         Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and
         Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius,
         Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom [syn: {Church
         Father}, {Father}]