Who was the first person to use the word Catholic to describe the Church?

Answer 1

Early Christians, such as Saint Ignatius of Antioch (who was martyred in about 110), used the term to describe the whole Church - the word's literal meaning is universal or whole - as opposed to the local Church, and excluding adherents of sects or heretical groups.

A letter that Saint Ignatius wrote to Christians in Smyrna[1] in about 107 is the earliest surviving witness to the use of the term "catholic Church" (Smyrnaeans, 8). By it Saint Ignatius designated the Christian Church in its universal aspect, excluding heretics, such as those who disavow "the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again" (Smyrnaeans, 7). He called such people "beasts in the shape of men, whom you must not only not receive, but, if it be possible, not even meet with" (Smyrnaeans, 4).

The use of the term "Catholic" to distinguish the "true" Church from heretical groups is found also in Saint Augustine, who wrote:

"In the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep (Jn 21:15-19), down to the present episcopate.
"And so, lastly, does the very name of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.
"Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should ... With you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me... No one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion... For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church."
— St. Augustine (354–430): Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental, chapter 4: Proofs of the Catholic Faith[2]
Earlier still, St Cyril of Jerusalem (circa 315-386) urged those he was instructing in the Christian faith: "If ever thou art sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord's House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their own dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God" (Catechetical Lectures, XVIII, 26).[3]

A contemporary of Augustine, St. Vincent of Lerins, wrote in 434 under the pseudonym Peregrinus a work known as the Commonitoria ("Memoranda"). While insisting that, like the human body, Church doctrine develops while truly keeping its identity (sections 54-59, chapter XXIII), he stated: "[I]n the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense 'Catholic,' which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors" (section 6, end of chapter II).

Answer 2

It's doubtful anyone knows for sure the specific person. This is from my article on the Catholic church as part of my series on religion:

The term “Catholic” was not actually used until after year 100 AD. It was then used to describe the church of St. Ignatius of Antioch. The term Catholic, meaning “Orthodox” or to being strictly adherent to the principals of the Church as it existed in Rome.

The term Roman Catholic Church came about during the 19th century in Great Britain to define this specific church and separate it from other “Catholic” Churches (we'll explore this aspect further next time when we look at the development of the Protestant church).

Answer 3

It is worth bearing in mind that the Catholic Church does not just mean the Roman Catholic Church.

The word stems from Greek and simply means 'universal' and is used to state that all Christians are part of one church (many non-Roman Catholic Christians use catholic (with a small c) but this is not universal).

Both The Nicene Creed and The Apostle's Creed refer to the Catholic Church and both of these are proported to stem from Simon Peter himself.

Answer 4

The combination "the Catholic Church" (he katholike ekklesia) is found for the first time in the letter of St. Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, written about the year 110.

Answer 5

The first Catholic.

Answer 6

Early Christians, such as Saint Ignatius of Antioch (who was martyred in about 110), used the term to describe the whole Church - the word's literal meaning is universal or whole - as opposed to the local Church, and excluding adherents of sects or heretical groups.

Answer 7

Catholic means "Universal," so it may have been one of St. Paul's followers.

Answer 8

The term was first used in the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds. So I would guess the apostles.

Answer 9

king james

Answer 10

me