Gentle Faith and Teaching

[Brigid]

I really like the gentle Saints like St. Francis DeSales, however I don't know which Early Church Father is also gentle in his teaching of the Faith.

[CyrilSebastian]

When one is referring to Early Church Father, what is the exact time period of Early Church Fathers?

[eschator83]

The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity by Garland Publishing is an outstanding book, even though protestant, with a good article on Fathers of the Church.  Here's a quick paraphrase: The term Fathers... broadly designates the (most highly regarded and generally orthodox) writers of the first six centuries, usually ending in the West with Pope Gregory the Great d 604 and East with St John of  Damascus d 749.  The article refers to a sixth century Decretum Gelasianum which lists Fathers, and to a variety of old writings which both endorse and deny certain Fathers.  A similar and roughly parallel development were lists of Doctors of the Church, which I think has grown by now to a combined total of about 33 people.