December 7
St. Ambrose of Milan
Life (339c-397)
Ambrose, one of the four great “doctors” of the Western Church, had a life so varied that even a novelist could scarcely have imagined such a scenario.
Born in Treves (now Trier, Germany) he was nevertheless a Roman of the Romans, the son of a high imperial official. Sent to Rome as a youth he received a thorough education in letters and law. Around 365 A.D. he entered the civil service of the Roman Empire. Only five years later he was appointed governor of the provinces of Liguria and Aemilia, with the rank of consul. Governor Ambrose, settling in his district capital, Milan, quickly acquired a reputation as an able and just administrator.
Now, at the time of Ambrose’s arrival in Milan, the bishop of that diocese was Auxentius. Auxentius upheld the Arian heresy; that is, he denied the divinity of Christ. Most of the Milanese Christians were orthodox, however; so when Bishop Auxentius died in 374, there was a strong move to elect an orthodox bishop to succeed him.
Despite this wide agreement against heresy, the Arian party was still influential in Milan. Fearing that when the two parties met in the cathedral to choose the new bishop, they might come to blows, Ambrose made a point of attending the election in order to maintain order.
As the respected governor moved up and down in the church, a voice suddenly cried out: “Ambrose bishop!” The rest of the congregation took to the suggestion and joined the chorus. Ambrose spoke out in reprimand. He could not possibly become a bishop, he said; he was not a priest, and, although raised in a Christian household, he was (in keeping with the practice of the time), only a catechumen, and not yet baptized. However, the bishops present saw no major obstacle here, and thought the Holy Spirit was speaking. Ambrose therefore appealed to the Emperor, but again to no avail. His Majesty also found the proposal excellent. So, willynilly, Governor Ambrose, then about 35, was speedily baptized, ordained a priest, and consecrated bishop of Milan.
The choice was, indeed, providential. The new bishop’s administrative experience would help him to deal with people of every rank. Conscientiously, he at once gave his property to the poor. In his episcopal household he set a pattern of strict asceticism. Unlearned in theology, he engaged a scholarly priest as tutor. Devoting every spare moment to study, he eventually became a superior theologian. A fine speaker already, he won a great reputation as a preacher. It was through listening to his sermons that St. Augustine of Hippo opened his heart to Christianity; and in 387 Ambrose baptized this other great saint. So many of the young women who heard him sing the praises of dedicated virginity took the veil, that worldly mothers began to forbid their daughters to listen to him. Some people even accused him of depopulating the Empire!
From the many typical episodes of his life, let me mention two.
Ambrose was, of course, strongly anti-Arian. When the pro Arian Empress Justina was trying to steal some of the Milanese churches for Arian use, the bishop and his flock remained all one Holy Week in the cathedral to thwart its confiscation. During their “sit-in”, St. Ambrose kept the people busy by composing hymns for them to sing. Eventually the cathedral was saved, and the bishop emerged as a composer of some of Christianity’s finest hymns.
Then, in 390 A.D., Emperor Theodosius, although an orthodox Christian, authorized the senseless slaughter of 7000 innocent people at Thessalonica in Greece. St. Ambrose refused to admit him to the cathedral until he had made reparation. Theodosius humbly complied, and performed a public penance.
When Bishop Ambrose was nearing death in 387, Count Stilicho, guardian of young Emperor Honorius, declared, “The day that man dies, destruction hangs over Italy.” Ambrose dismissed the idea of his own indispensability: he knew God would not neglect His people. But his own position in history was secure. He was one of the glories of the Roman Christian world. -- Father Robert F. McNamara
Scripture. (Eph 3:8-12)
(Year C). Mary was unaccustomed to go from home, except for divine service, and this with parents or kinsfolk. Busy in private at home, accompanied by others abroad, yet with no better guardian than herself, as she, inspiring respect by her gait and address, progressed not so much by the motion of her feet as by step upon step of virtue. But though the Virgin had other persons who were protectors of her body, she alone guarded her character; she can learn many points if she be her own teacher, who possesses the perfection of all virtues, for whatever she did is a lesson. Mary attended to everything as though she were warned by many, and fulfilled every obligation of virtue as though she were teaching rather than learning.
Such has the Evangelist shown her, such did the angel find her, such did the Holy Spirit choose her. Why delay about details? How her parents loved her, strangers praised her, how worthy she was that the Son of God should be born of her. She, when the angel entered, was found at home in privacy, without a companion, that no one might interrupt her attention or disturb her; and she did not desire any women as companions, who had the companionship of good thoughts. Moreover, she seemed to herself to be less alone when she was alone. For how should she be alone, who had with her so many books, so many archangels, so many prophets?
And so, too, when Gabriel visited her, did he find her, and Mary trembled, being disturbed, as though at the form of a man, but on hearing his name recognized him as one not unknown to her. And so she was a stranger as to men, but not as to the angel; that we might know that her ears were modest and her eyes bashful. Then when saluted she kept silence, and when addressed she answered, and she whose feelings were first troubled afterwards promised obedience.
And holy Scripture points out how modest she was towards her neighbours. For she became more humble when she knew herself to be chosen of God, and went forthwith to her kinswoman in the hill country, not in order to gain belief by anything external, for she had believed the word of God. “Blessed,” she said, “art thou who didst believe.” And she abode with her three months. Now in such an interval of time it is not that faith is being sought for, but kindness which is being shown. And this was after that the child, leaping in his mother’s womb, had saluted the mother of the Lord, attaining to reason before birth.
And then, in the many subsequent wonders, when the barren bore a son, the virgin conceived, the dumb spake, the wise men worshipped, Simeon waited, the stars gave notice. Mary, who was moved by the angel’s entrance, was unmoved by the miracles. “Mary,” it is said, “kept all these things in her heart.” Though she was the mother of the Lord, yet she desired to learn the precepts of the Lord, and she who brought forth God, yet desired to know God.
And then, how she also went every year to Jerusalem at the solemn day of the passover, and went with Joseph. Everywhere is modesty the companion of her singular virtues in the Virgin. This, without which virginity cannot exist, must be the inseparable companion of virginity. And so Mary did not go even to the temple without the guardianship of her modesty.
This is the likeness of virginity. For Mary was such that her example alone is a lesson for all. If, then, the author displeases us not, let us make trial of the production, that whoever desires its reward for herself may imitate the pattern. (On Virginity)
who called Ambrose from the governor’s throne
to be a bishop in your Church
and an intrepid champion of your faithful people:
mercifully grant that,
as he did not fear to rebuke rulers,
so we, with like courage,
may contend for the faith we have received;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen. (English Missal)