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The saints

St. Ambrose

The governor came to keep order at an election. The crowd elected him.

Feast: 7 December · about 340 to 397 · The early Church · Milan, Italy

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The atrium of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan: a Romanesque brick courtyard with arcades and two bell towers.

Óðinn, 2015. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 ca.

Home / The saints / St. Ambrose

The basilica of Milan, 374

The clergy and people of Milan are bitterly divided over who will be their bishop.1

The consular governor of the province, a young lawyer named Ambrose, comes to the basilica and begins a speech appealing for peace and moderation.1

A voice, which Paulinus says was the voice of a child, cries out: “Ambrose, Bishop”.1

The whole assembly took up the cry. He was not even baptized yet.

Patron of beekeepers, beggars, learning and the city of Milan2

01St. Ambrose

Bishop and teacher

Ambrose was still only a catechumen, and by the canons ineligible to be a bishop.1

His power as an orator is attested by the conversion of the skilled rhetorician Augustine.1

02St. Ambrose

The emperor’s penance

When the Emperor Theodosius was guilty of a massacre, Ambrose wrote to him in his own hand urging repentance, and the emperor did public penance.1

The atrium of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan: a Romanesque brick courtyard with arcades and two bell towers.
The atrium of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, the basilica that bears his name. Óðinn, 2015. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 ca.

An emperor knelt because a bishop told him the truth. That had not happened before.

Live it this week

Say no to the powerful, respectfully

Ambrose told an emperor he couldn’t come to church until he did penance, and the emperor did. If someone in charge of you asks you to do something wrong this week, say no clearly and respectfully. If not, pray for the people who lead you by name.

Notes

How we know · 2 sources for this page
  1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “St. Ambrose”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org
  2. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Ambrose”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.