Great Teachers

"To renew the Church in every age, God raises up saints, who themselves have been renewed by God and are in constant contact with God." Pope Benedict XVI

Discover the greatest teachers of the Faith as Pope Benedict XVI highlights their essential role during a time of scandal and strife in the Church.

Focusing specifically on the 13th-century founding of the Franciscans by St. Francis of Assisi and the Dominicans by St. Dominic Guzmán, the pope said personal holiness led the two saints to preach and to help actualize a return to Gospel poverty, a deeper unity with the Church, and a new movement of evangelization, including within the European universities that were blossoming at the time.

The Franciscans and Dominicans followed in the footsteps of their founders and demonstrated that it was possible to live evangelical poverty, to live the Gospel itself, without separating themselves from the Church, he said.

Their example continues to be relevant today as we struggle with a culture that focuses more on having than on being, and look to emulate those holy people who chose to live very simply.

Great Teachers include:

--Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor
--William of Saint-Thierry
--Rupert of Dutz
--John of Salisbury
--Peter Lombard
--St. Francis of Assisi
--St. Dominic Guzman
--St. Anthony of Padua
--St. Bonaventure
--St. Albert the Great
--St. Thomas Aquinas
--John Duns Scotus