Patristic A.D. 407
“(ut sup.) For the father himself rejoices in the return of his son, and feasts on the calf, because the Creator, rejoicing in the acquisition of a believing people, feasts on the fruit of His mercy by the sacrifice of His Son. Hence it follows, For this my son was dead, and is alive again.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Luke, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Luke 15:17-24
PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1843) ↗