(Greek: katholikos, universal)
The term, in its primitive and non-ecclesiastical sense of universal, occurs in the Greek classics, and was freely used by the earlier Christian writers. The combination, "the Catholic Church," is found for the first time in the Letter of Saint Ignatius to the Smyrneans, written about the year 110. The words run:
"Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal (catholic) Church."