1. THE QUESTION WAS:
Around what year did the Catholic Church first get its name?
"And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr
Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the
Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was
fulfilled and will be fulfilled." (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2 [A.D.
155]).
"Inquire not simply where the Lord's house is, for the sects of
the profane also make an attempt to call their own dens the houses of the Lord;
nor inquire merely where the church is, but where the Catholic Church is. For
this is the peculiar name of this Holy Body, the Mother of all, which is the
Spouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ" (4th
century, Catecheses, xviii, 26).
It is, therefore, the Catholic Church alone which retains true worship. This
is the fountain of truth; this, the domicile of faith; this, the temple of God.
Whoever does not enter there or whoever does not go out from there, he is a
stranger to the hope of life and salvation. . . . Because, however, all the
various groups of heretics are confident that they are the Christians and think
that theirs is the Catholic Church, let it be known that this is the true
Church, in which there is confession and penance and which takes a
health-promoting care of the sins and wounds to which the weak flesh is
subject. (Lactantius, Divine Institutes 4:30:11-13 [A.D. 307]).
ST. AUGUSTINE
[T]here are many other things which most properly can keep me in [the Catholic
Church's] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her
authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and
confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very
see of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the
charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15-17], up to the present episcopate,
keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason,
belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that,
although all heretics want to be called "Catholic," when a stranger
inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to
point out his own basilica or house. (Augustine, Against the Letter of Mani
Called "The Foundation" 4:5
397 A.D.).
For more info, see http://www.catholic.com/library/What_Catholic_Means.asp
http://www.chnetwork.org/authority.pdf
(Authority)
http://www.americancatholictruthsociety.com/whycath.htm
http://www.chnetwork.org/journals/nesschurch/ness_4.htm
(What did the name Catholic Church mean in the early Church?
http://www.cin.org/archives/apolo/200005/0111.html
http://www.catholic.com/library/Apostolic_Succession.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Authority_of_the_Pope_Part_1.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Authority_of_the_Pope_Part_2.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Origins_of_Peter_as_Pope.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_Primacy.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_Roman_Residency.asp
http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_Successors.asp
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ12.HTM
(The Church)
http://www.turrisfortis.com/hierarchy.html
(The Catholic Hierarchy)
http://www.catholicapologetics.info/origin.htm
(When Was the Catholic Church founded?)
http://www.chnetwork.org/journals/authority/authority_1.htm
(Searching for Authority)
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