Last of the Fathers is a title adscribed to the Catholic saint and doctor of the Church Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153).[1]
The term appears in the Doctor Mellifluus encyclical by Pius XII, quoted from French monk and scholar Jean Mabillon, and is also part of the subtitle of the letter.[2] The concept follows from the Western Christian view of a finished "Patristic Age" superseded by the advent of Scholasticism.[3]
Pope Benedict XVI also used the term and defended it in a 2009 general audience. Despite the title is mostly assigned to Bernard, it has also been used regarding John of Damascus (675–749).[4]
The Eastern Orthodox Church rejects the title as it believes the Patristic Age can not be given an end point. Nevertheless, some Eastern Christians consider John of Damascus, Gregory I or Isidore of Seville as the last Church Fathers from East and West.