More Proof that the Early Church was Catholic

Joe Heschmeyer examines the evidence found in Ignatius of Antioch's writings proving that the early church was indeed Catholic.

Get more Shameless Popery on Patreon!

[henrytucker]

For me, it was St Augustine first … then Ignatius. As a Calvinist, Augustine’s ecclesiology was shockingly Catholic. Not just Catholic, but ROMAN Catholic. I realized that this “patron saint” of Calvinist soteriology would never be permitted to mount the pulpit of any Calvinist church I had ever attended. But worse, I would not be admitted into Augustine’s church either. So I had to basically make the decision that either Augustine was totally wrong… or I was. Easy choice. I became Catholic. I could not imagine the Christian church without Augustine’s beautiful faith and mind and love for Christ. But I could certainly imagine it without mine. So I changed.

[aplcc]

As a former atheist, I thank God that I can partake in His feast and share with all my brothers and sisters, from times without memory, the most Holy communion with Our Lord Jesus Christ.
God bless us all, come back to the church all you who have abandoned her! She shall not perish, there is nothing to protest against that would make it good to leave her.

[beaniehampton]

As Scott Hahn might say, "I figured out something only to realize the Fathers of the Church already said it."
(Cradle Catholic)

[martina.echeverria]

Ex Evangelical here! I read these letters and knew I was a heretic 😂. I wanted to please my Lord in all things, I wanted to be part of His REAL Church, I wanted to eat HIS Flesh and drink HIS Blood, and St. Ignatius is my patron Saint now. God bless! "All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth." – St. Ignatius

[jonathanstensberg]

St Ignatius is one of many keys to realizing that the Catholic Church emerged immediately from the apostolic age.

[halleylujah]

Something about Joe I love is he packs so much relevant information into a concise video. I could never convey all that he said in a less than 30 minute video. St Ignatius pray for Joe and anyone who reads this.

[willskitchen]

Long before videos like this were being made, I was reading the Patristics. I had to fight really hard to ignore the reality before me: "These people are decidedly Catholic." I hated that fact for years. God, in His grace, has mercifully softened my heart. I am so thankful.

[viperlt]

Catholic theology professor here, and, I’ve got to say, Joe is killing it. I think he’s my favorite Catholic YouTuber and the one I refer most to my students. He also has some great shirts, haha.

[elizabethking]

Just confirmed Catholic Easter 2024. And I found the letters of Saint Ignatius. It blew me away.! How did I not know that they existed? I’ve never heard anyone in my protestant church ever talk about it or in the many many Bible studies that I had taken . Seven years ago, I met Catholic, who simply invited me to look some of the early church fathers up. Saint Ignatius is my patron saint! I am so grateful! And so thankful! Praise be to God!🙏🏻❤️

[johns]

As a former episcopalian, once I woke up and finally realizing how messed up that church was, becoming Catholic was very easy. The real presence and learning Mary is our Mother was icing on the cake.

[dlfincher]

I was raised anti-Catholic. Churches I attended deliberately proselytized Catholics. This was true through my years at Moody Bible Institute and in my own churches when I pastored.
I was in my late 40’s when I stumbled upon Justin Martyr and Ireneaus. They shook my world!
I was so anti-Catholic, I first went Anglican, then Anglo-Catholic (studying for the priesthood). I realized that Anglicanism wasn’t solidly committed to Nicene beliefs. I went Orthodox but continued studying the Ecumenical Councils. They affirmed papal primacy.
I finally humbled myself & gave in to became Catholic. I am so incredibly thankful!

[levibarros]

I was raised Baptist/non-denominational, was Pentecostal for a brief time, and reluctantly converted to the Catholic faith in 2019 after years of debating with Catholics and writing essays on why Catholics are wrong.

I used to be one of those obnoxious people who say "I don't need to read the church fathers! I have the Bible!" Which is silly because the apostolic fathers were students of the apostles, whose own writings are a part of the bible! It's sort of like saying "I don't need a professional mechanic to help me fix my car. I have the owner's manual!"

Here is the logical reasoning that made me Catholic;

Premise 1 - The earliest Christians, having lived among the apostles or at least the disciples to the apostles, understood Christianity better than my generation.

Premise 2 - If the earliest Christians were wrong about the majority of their beliefs, then there is no chance my present generation could be right about the majority of their beliefs regarding Christian doctrine.

Premise 3 - Whatever were the core tenets of the Christians living within the first 500 years, or even just the first 200 years; those are what the core tenets of the correct denomination is.

Conclusion - With easy access to the writings of the first Christians, it is clear that the first Christians were Catholic, since all of their beliefs, which were tested and dogmatized, align with with what Catholics believe today.

All Protestants with emotional control and a burning curiosity for the truth, will all, eventually, become Catholic again, like their ancestors were.

[consecratedsoul]

If you don’t quote mine our Saints you’ll end up Catholic or Orthodox, anything else is self deception.

[A_Guido_Lost_In_The_Woods]

I asked a very dear protestant friend of mine to read St. Ignatius' letters recently. My friend's final thoughts were that St. Ignatius sounded "suicidal" and obsessed with his own death (even more so than the death of Christ). He saw him as 'some guy' with no authority who sounded crazy. Finally, he insisted that if St. Ignatius was truly as important as we are led to believe, his beloved bible church pastors and Sunday school teachers would have taught about him. He felt that because he had gone all through childhood and into adulthood, never hearing about this guy who came after the gospels, it made this man irrelevant. St. Ignatius' writings "did not pass [his] sniff test."

Please pray for my friend

[JenniferMcMann]

St. Ignatius' letters are a treasure, thank you for providing this background on his writings.

[Electric_]

I’m a former Protestant and St. Ignatius of Antioch was extremely convincing, along with the other Church fathers. Seeing the Hagia Sophia in-person, and its holy water fonts and infant baptismal font, also helped convert me even though it was officially a museum at the time i went, because it showed me that Christianity early on didn’t look at all like Southern Baptist churches or Evangelical churches, it looked exactly like the 1 or 2 Catholic Churches I had been to. I also discovered the Hagia Sofia began construction at least 12 years before the Bible was even canonized at the Council of Rome, and that the leaders of the Church in Constantinople who were working on it helped canonize the Bible. So if these guys were trusted by Protestants as guided by the Holy Spirit to canonize the Bible and they were clearly practicing Catholicism or Orthodoxy, that was a huge problem. I couldn’t stay Protestant.

[clarkkent]

I am a recent catholic revert, having fallen away from the church after high school graduation. it was absolutely the early church fathers that helped "convince" me of the truthfulness of catholic doctrine, and more specifically Saint Ignatius of Antioch, and what the eucharist actual is. my story may have led me into a protestant denomination of it weren't for those two things. well that and great apologists like you, Trent Horn, and Jimmy Akin. so after being away from the church for over 25 years, I'm finally getting confirmed. better late than never, right?

[katathoombs]

I wrote my BTh on (kinda) the genuineness of Ignatian epistles, middle recension. It's somehow elating to hear the stuff I spent a year delving into to be so well summarised here.

Btw fun coincidence I just now made a note of: I submitted said thesis early May 2019, I was confirmed into the Church late May 2019.

[timmleonard]

As a Protestant, I was looking for more reverence and respect in my worship of God. I was tired and discontented with singing radio hits and listening to mediocre messages, and I new that there had to be so much more to church than that. When I began looking into the Catholic Church for myself, I fully expected to discover that the Church was heretical and then I would move on. One by one, I was shocked to discover that their interpretation of doctrine was correct. The Catholic faith takes the Bible more literally. I started seeing things in Scripture that I had always glossed over because of my biases. It was like I had a new Bible, even though I was reading the same one. I couldn't soak up information fast enough! I want to worship God the way that He deserves. I want to correctly interpret Scripture, and the early fathers shed light on how the apostles meant their traditions to be interpreted. I want to practice my faith the way that the early Christians did. There's more that I could say but these things and more led me to being confirmed in the Catholic Church this spring. 😊

[classicalteacher]

I converted in 2006. I earned my undergrad degrees in Bible and Music at a very anti-Catholic "non-denominational Christian" University. There were so many conflicting interpretations of Scripture between professors. They never taught early Church history. For them, Christian theology started in the 1500s. My Biblical Archeology prof taught that the earliest church building excavated had a cup holder for water for the preacher. I was so angry that he refused to teach it was for the Communion Cup. They lied to me and everyone about real Christianity. The music department was just as bad. Music history is Catholic history. The historic liturgical music is Catholicism. This is why the Traditional Latin Mass is critical to Catholicism. The ancient chants in the Liturgy are Catholic proofs. Vatican 2 taught that all Catholics should be able to chant the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin. These chants unify Catholics throughout the ages of Christianity.