Saint Ambrose of Milan

Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(c. 340–397)

Saint Ambrose was born around 340 at Augusta Treverorum, now Trier in Germany, the son of the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul. He was educated in Rome for the law and rose to become governor of the province of Aemilia-Liguria, with his seat at Milan, the imperial capital of the Western Empire. He was a Christian but had not yet been baptised when the death of the Arian bishop of Milan in 374 threatened to plunge the city into violent conflict between the Arian and Catholic factions.

Ambrose went to the cathedral to maintain public order. According to tradition, a child's voice suddenly cried out Ambrose bishop, and the crowd immediately took up the cry, demanding that the governor become their bishop. Ambrose fled and resisted, but was unable to withstand the pressure of the emperor, the people, and his own conscience. He was baptised, ordained through all the minor orders in rapid succession, and consecrated bishop, all within a week.

His episcopate of twenty-three years was one of the most consequential in the history of the Western Church. He composed hymns that introduced congregational singing to the Latin Church, a practice that spread from Milan throughout the West. He wrote major theological works on the Holy Spirit, on the sacraments, on virginity, and on the duties of the clergy that became standard references throughout the medieval period. He administered the sacrament of baptism to Saint Augustine in 387, one of the most important moments in the history of Western theology.

His resistance to imperial interference in Church affairs set precedents that would echo throughout the medieval period. When the Emperor Theodosius I ordered a massacre of the people of Thessalonica in 390 as collective punishment for a riot, Ambrose publicly excommunicated him and refused to readmit him to Communion until he had done public penance, which the emperor accepted. He died on April 4, 397. His feast is celebrated on December 7th.