A deacon who'se a doctor

Today, the Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Ephrem, a fourth-century deacon who was raised to the distinguished honour of being named a Doctor of the Church.

Born of a Christian family at Nisibis (more recently known as Nusaybin, Mardin Province, Turkey), around the year 306, Ephrem was ordained a deacon and exercised his office thorughout the country and in Edessa, where he founded a theological school.  Despite his ascetic life he did not relax his ministries of preaching and writing books to confute the errors of his time.  We now count the writings of this saint, who died in 373, among the magesterium of the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke extensively about Saint Ephrem during his General Audience held in the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican on Wednesday, November 28, 2007.