The Road to Hell is Paved with the Skulls of Bishops

So saith today’s saint, the incomparable Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347–407). He was, of course, himself a bishop.

It seems that this pithy quote is a popularization of the full (attributed) quote, where the saint is talking about the relatively few in number who will be saved and the bad shepherds who are responsible:

The road to Hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path.

There is some debate on the proper attribution of the quote, but it is certainly ancient.

It’s kind of sad that although the Saint was in his day famous for his homilies and his writings on liturgy and theology, the one thing that is most quoted is this.

He is accorded as one of the 33 Doctors of the Church, and he is cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church no less than eighteen times. I’m particularly drawn to the quote attached to Paragraph 2365:

Saint John Chrysostom suggests that young husbands should say to their wives:

I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us. . . .

I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.

His biggest contribution, though, is probably the codification and reform of what is now known as the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.