VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican newspaper is reporting that 29 previously unpublished homilies said to be the work of one of the most important and prolific early church fathers have been discovered in a German library.

The 3rd Century theologian Origin of Alexandria is considered to have played a critical role in the development of Christian thought. Pope Benedict XVI dedicated two of his 2007 weekly church teaching sessions to the importance of Origin in using theology to explain Scriptures.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said Tuesday that despite Origin's importance, few of his original texts remain in part because he was condemned by the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 553.

The newspaper said an Italian scholar, Marina Molin Pradel, discovered the homilies in the Bavarian State Library, recognizing the unsigned documents corresponded to subsequent translations of Origin.