History of the Association

The idea of the International Association of Patristic Studies (I.A.P.S.) originated during the Fourth International Conference on Patristic Studies, held in Oxford in the summer of 1963, and the Association came into being two years later at the initiative of Professor Michele Pellegrino of the University of Turin and several of the other participants in the Oxford conference. During a colloquium that brought together a number of patristic scholars from several European countries in Paris on June 26, 1965, they founded the Association, prepared draft Statutes, and appointed an Executive Committee (or Bureau) comprising:

After two years of preparatory work, the I.A.P.S. elected its Executive Committee and Council to four-year terms at a General Assembly held in Oxford on September 20, 1967, alongside the Fifth International Conference on Patristic Studies. The provisional Executive Committee was confirmed, with the exception of Professor Cross, who resigned for personal reasons and was replaced by Professor H. Chadwick, also from Oxford.

Subsequently, for reasons of expedience, it became customary—although an unwritten rule—to hold the meetings of the Association (General Assembly and meeting of the Council, which elects the Executive Committee) every four years.

List of Presidents of the International Association of Patristic Studies

Transcript of an interview with Mlle Marie-Louise Guillaumin about the origins of I.A.P.S. (1963-1983) and her role during that period.