• The Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent is helpful in these regards.
  • Encyclopedia Home http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/
  • Article on the Canon: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm
• Taylor Marshall’s excellent blog has a category for Church Fathers. (Check out his podcast while you’re there, and his books.)

Books, Printed and Digital

• The Catholic Perspective on Paul: Paul and the Origins of Catholic Christianity, by Taylor Marshall: Paperback, Kindle. (Affiliate links, see Full Disclosure below.)
• Mike Aquilina’s site about the Fathers of the Church (his site has been completely re-vamped and sadly stripped down.
  
  • But Aquilina’s book Fathers of the Church is out in its 3rd edition: Paperback, Kindle. (Affiliate links, see Full Disclosure below.)
• One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic: The Early Church Was the Catholic Church, by Kenneth Whitehead: Paperback, Kindle. (Affiliate links, see Full Disclosure below.)
• This is not a Catholic site but you can download the writings of the Early Church Fathers for free here and free is good! Translations by Phillip Schaff in the 1800’s, public domain.
  • http://www.ccel.org/fathers.html

Software and Libraries in the Logos/Verbum Format

A quibble: Logos seems to be somewhat ambivalent about Verbum and Catholics at best, though it is getting better, I think. High praise: That said, it blows away every other piece of Scripture study software I’ve ever used, it’s hand-tagged by HUMANS, and it’s got Catholic Tradition in there, too. Hands down, the best, quibbles aside.

• Catechism of the Catholic Church Collection (9 vols.). By 8 authors, 8 publishers, 1851–2011. See video on product page.
  • Any study of Catholicism must begin with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Officially promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1997, it is the first “universal” Catholic catechism since the Reformation, and only the second in history. It is an epochal work that expresses the tenets of the Catholic faith consistent with their articulation at the Second Vatican Council, while remaining in organic unity with the tradition of the Church, drawing in abundance on the sources of Sacred Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, the liturgy, and magisterial authority. If one wants to know what the Catholic Church teaches, the Catechism, as John Paul II stated, is the “sure norm.”
  • In the Catechism of the Catholic Church Collection, thousands of the Catechism’s citations come alive, linking to the original documents. The collection gets you behind the Catechism’s summary of the faith and into the primary sources themselves. It includes the most important texts the Catechism cites, and so lets you see not only what the contemporary Church teaches, but what it bases this teaching on. You can use the Catechism as a type of commentary on the other texts in the collection—for example, you can quickly find every instance of the Catechism’s citing a certain Bible verse or document of Vatican II. The collection includes the Lectionary of the Catholic Church, so the Catechism becomes an automatic companion to the daily readings.
  • With the Catechism of the Catholic Church Collection, the Catechism is transformed from a summary of Catholicism into a gateway to the Catholic faith.

• Faith of the Early Fathers 3 Volume Set, W. A. Jurgens, Liturgical Press, 1970–1979:
  • Providing a wide array of early church writings translated into English, Faith of the Early Fathers offers excerpts of critical theological developments in the first seven centuries of Christian history.
  • From Clement of Rome and Polycarp to Augustine and Basil, and from Chrysostom to Ambrose and Jerome, these volumes track the formation of Christian doctrine—both the orthodox and the heretical.The passages are keyed to the numerical order established in M. J. Rouët de Journel’s Enchiridion Patristicum.
  • But these volumes are not just a translation of that standard work. William A. Jurgens has investigated and selected the most frequently cited patristic passages, including much that is in Rouët’s volume and much that is not. All passages have been freshly and accurately translated from the best critical editions.
  • Each selection is prefaced with a brief introduction addressing authorship, time and place of composition, and its purpose.
  • Each volume is thoroughly and critically indexed by doctrine, Scripture, and general terms.

• The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to the Teachings of the Early Church, by Jimmy Akin.
  • The Fathers Know Best: Your Essential Guide to the Teachings of the Early Church is a unique resource. It introduces you to the teachings of the first Christians in a way no other work can. It is specially designed to make it easy for you to find the information you want and need. Amazing features in this fact-packed book include:
    • More than 900 quotations from the writings of the Early Church Fathers, as well as from rare and important documents dating back to the dawn of Christian history.
    • Mini-biographies of nearly 100 fathers, as well as descriptions of dozens of key early councils and writings.
    • A concise history of the dramatic spread of Christianity after Jesus told his disciples to evangelize all nations.
    • Special maps showing you where the fathers lived, including many little-known and long-vanished locations.
    • A guide to nearly 30 ancient heresies, many of which have returned to haunt the modern world.
    • The fathers’ teaching on nearly 50 topics, including modern hot-button issues like abortion, homosexuality, and divorce. This groundbreaking work presents the teachings of the early Christians in a way unlike any other book. It flings open the doors of the crucial but little-known age covering the birth of Christianity and the triumphant march of the gospel throughout the ancient world.

• Fathers of the Church Series (127 vols.), by 69 authors, five publishers, 1947–2013:
  • The rich Christian heritage of East and West comes alive in the volumes of The Fathers of the Church, a series widely praised for its brilliant scholarship and unparalleled historical, literary, and theological significance. The series consists of now 127 published volumes, representing the longest modern run of translated church fathers on the market.Spanning the first five centuries of Christian history, many of these ancient works had never been accessible in English before these publications—and many are still inaccessible outside of these editions. Containing hard-to-find writings from early church fathers such as Cyprian, Jerome, Basil, Ambrose, Peter Chrysologus, and many more, these volumes provide the best scholarship in translation and early church history, making these works not only delightful to read, but unmatched in patristic work.
  • In Logos, these works become the backbone of any study on the early church. Links to the patristic writings of the Early Church Fathers will bring you right to the source—to the very quote—allowing you to see instant context. Footnotes appear on mouseover, as well as references to Scripture and extra-biblical material in your library, and you can perform near-instant searches across these volumes, searching for references to keywords or Scripture passages.