Ambrose of Milan
c. 339 – 397 · Bishop of Milan
Also known as Aurelius Ambrosius
Feast: 7 December
Bishop of Milan and one of the four Latin Doctors. Confronted emperors Theodosius and Valentinian; baptized Augustine in 387.
Ambrose was a Roman governor who got drafted to be bishop while still a catechumen — he wasn't even baptised yet. He used the office to make Christianity fit into the imperial Latin world: he composed hymns, wrote on the sacraments in classical Latin, and faced down the emperor Theodosius until Theodosius did public penance. He also baptised Augustine. Without him there's no Augustine, no medieval Latin liturgy, and no idea that bishops can hold emperors to account.
Notable works
- ·On the Mysteries / On the Sacraments · 390
- ·On the Duties of the Clergy · 391
- ·Hexaemeron · 387
- ·Hymns · 380
Primary sources
- ·Paulinus of Milan, Vita Ambrosii
- ·Augustine, Confessions 5-6
- ·Ambrose, Epistulae
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