bishop of MILAN, was born probably at Augusta Trevirorum (Treves), which was the seat of government for the province of Gaul, of which
his father was prefect. His biographers differ as to whether the date of his birth was 333 or
340 A. D. but the latter is probably the true date. Circumstances occurred in his infancy
which were understood to portend his future greatness. His father having died, Ambrose, then a
boy, accompanied his mother to Rome, where he received the education of an advocate under
Anicius Probus and Symmachus. He began pleading causes at Milan, then the imperial residence,
and soon gained a high reputation for forensic eloquence. This success, together with the
influence of his family, led to his appointment (about 370 A. D., or a little later) as
consular prefect of the provinces of Liguria and Aemilia, whose seat of government was
Milan.
The struggle between the Catholics and Arianu was now at its height in the Western Church,
and upon the death of Auxentius, bishop of Milan, in 374, the question of the appointment of
his successor led to an open conflict between the two parties. Ambrose exerted his influence
to restore peace, and addressed the people in a conciliatory speech, at the conclusion of
which a child in the further part of the crowd cried out "Ambrosius.
episcopus." The words were received as an oracle from heaven, and Ambrose was elected
bishop by the acclamation of the whole multitude, the bishops of both parties uniting in his
election. It was in vain that he adopted the strangest devices to alter the determination of
the people; nothing could make them change their mind (Paulin. Vit.
Ambros. pp. 2, 3): in vain did he flee from Milan in the night; he mistook his way, and
found himself the next morning before the gate of the city. At length he yielded to the
express command of the emperor (Valentinian I.), and was consecrated on the eighth day after
his baptism, for at the time of his election he was only a catechumen.
Immediately after his election he gave all his property to the church and the poor, and adopted an ascetic mode of life, while the public administration of his office was most firm and skilful. He was a great patron of monasticism: about two years after his consecration he wrote his three books " De Virginibus," and dedicated them to his sister Marcellina. In the Arian controversy he espoused the orthodox side at his very entrance on his bishopric by demanding that his baptism should be performed by an orthodox bishop. He applied himself most diligently to the study of theology under Simplician, a presbyter of Rome, who afterwards became his successor in the bishopric. this influence soon became very great, both with the people and with the emperor Valentinian and his son Gratian, for whose instruction he composed his treatises " De Fide," and " De Spiritu Sancto." In the year 377, in consequence of an invasion of Italy by the northern barbarians, Ambrose fled to Illyricum, and afterwards (in Cave's opinion) visited Rome. After his return to Milan, he was employed by the court on important political affairs. When Maximus, after the death of Gratian (383), threatened Italy, Justina, the mother of the young emperor Valentinian II., sent Ambrose on an embassy to the usurper, whose advance the bishop succeeded in delaying. At a later period (387), Ambrose went again to Treves on a like mission; but his conduct on this occasion gave such offence to Maximus, that he was compelled to return to Italy in haste.
While rendering these political services to Justina and Valentinian, Ambrose was at open
variance with them on the great religious question of the age. Justina was herself an Arian,
and had brought up the young emperor in the same tenets.
At length, in the years 385 and 386, Ambrose and Justina came to open conflict. Justina, in
the name of the emperor, demanded of Ambrose the use of at least one of the churches in Milan,
for the performance of divine worship by Arian ecclesiastics. Ambrose refused, and the people
rose up to take his part. At Easter (385) an attempt was made by Justina to take forcible
possession of the basilica, but the show of resistance was so great, that the attempt was
abandoned, and the court was even obliged to apply to Ambrose to quell the tumult. He
answered, that he had not stirred up the people, and that God alone could still them. The
people now kept guard about the bishop's residence and the basilica, which the imperial forces
hesitated to attack. In fact, the people were almost wholly on the side of Ambrose, the Arian
party consisting of few beyond the court and the Gothic troops. Auxentius, an Arian bishop,
who was Justina's chief adviser in these proceedings, now challenged Ambrose to a public
disputation in the emperor's palace; but Ambrose refused, saying that a council of the church
was the only proper place for such a discussion. He was next commanded to leave the city,
which he at once refused to do, and in this refusal the people still supported him. In order
to keep up the spirits of the people, he introduced into the church where they kept watch the
regular performance of antiphonal hymns, which had been long practised in the Eastern Church,
but not hitherto introduced into the West. At length, the contest was decided about a year
after its commencement by the miracles which are reported to have attended the discovery of
the reliques of two hitherto unknown martyrs, Gervasius and Protasius. A blind man was said to
have been restored to sight, and several demoniacs dispossessed. These events are recorded hy
Ambrose himself, by his secretary Paulinus, and by his disciple Augustine, who was in Milan at
the time; but a particular discussion of the truth of these miracles would be out of place
here. They were denied by the Arians and discredited by the court, but the impression made by
them upon the people in general was such, that Justina thought it prudent to desist from her
attempt. (Ambros. Epist. xii. xx. xxi. 22.2, liii. liv.; Paulin. Vit. Ambros. ยง 14-17, p. 4, Ben.; Augustin. Confess. 9.7.14-16, De Civ. Dei, 22.8.2, Serm. 318, 286.)
An imperial rescript was however issued in the same year for the toleration of all sects of
Christians, any offence against which was made high treason (Cod. Theodos. IV. De Fide Catholica); but we have no evidence that its execution was attempted; and the
state of the parties was quite altered by the death of Justina in the next year (387), when
Valentinian became a Catholic, and still more completely by the victory of Theodosius over
Maximus (388). This event put the whole power of the empire into the hands of a prince who was
a firm Catholic, and over whom Ambrose speedily acquired such influence, that, after the
massacre at Thessalonica in 390, he refused Theodosius admission into the church of Milan for
a period of eight months, and only restored him after he had performed a public penance, and
had confessed that he had learnt the difference between an emperor and a priest.
Ambrose was an active opponent not only of the Arians, but also of the Macedonians,
Apollinarians, and Novatians, and of Jovinian. It was probably about the year 384 that he
successfully resisted the petition of Symmachus and the heathen senators of Rome for the
restoration of the altar of Victory. He was the principal instructor of Augustine in the
Christian faith. [AUGUSTINUS.]
The latter years of his life, with the exception of a short absence from Milan during the
usurpation of Eugenius (392), were devoted to the care of his bishopric. He died on the 4th of
April,
As a writer, Ambrose cannot be ranked high, notwithstanding his great eloquence. His theological knowledge scarcely extended beyond a fair acquaintance with the works of the Greek fathers, from whom he borrowed much. His works bear also the marks of haste. He was rather a man of action than of letters.
His works are very numerous, though several of them have been lost. They consist of Letters, Sermons, and Orations, Commentaries on Scripture, Treatises in commendation of celibacy and monasticism, and other treatises, of which the most important are :