Saint Ambrose of Milan - December 7
Ambreuil
Ambrogio
Ambroise
Ambrosius
Ambrun
Embrun
The Honey Tongued Doctor
Memorial
7 December (anniversary of his ordination)
4 April (Old Catholics; Lutherans; Milan, Italy for the memorial of his death)
20 December (Orthodox)
Profile
Born to the Roman nobility. Brother of Saint Marcellina and Saint Satyrus. Educated in the classics, Greek, and philosophy at Rome, Italy. Poet and noted orator. Convert to Christianity. Governor of Milan, Italy.
When the bishop of Milan died, a dispute over his replacement led to violence. Ambrose intervened to calm both sides; he impressed everyone involved so much that though he was still an unbaptized catechumen, he was chosen as the new bishop. He resisted, claiming that he was not worthy, but to prevent further violence, he assented, and on 7 December 374 he was baptized, ordained as a priest, and consecrated as bishop. He immediately gave away his wealth to the Church and the poor, both for the good it did, and as an example to his flock.
Noted preacher and teacher, a Bible student of renown, and writer of liturgical hymns. He stood firm against paganism and Arians. His preaching helped convert Saint Augustine of Hippo, whom Ambrose baptized and brought into the Church. Ambrose’s preaching brought Emperor Theodosius to do public penance for his sins. He called and chaired several theological councils during his time as bishop, many devoted to fighting heresy. Welcomed Saint Ursus and Saint Alban of Mainz when they fled Naxos to escape Arian persecution, and then sent them on to evangelize in Gaul and Germany. Proclaimed a great Doctor of the Latin Church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298.
The title Honey Tongued Doctor was initially bestowed on Ambrose because of his speaking and preaching ability; this led to the use of a beehive and bees in his iconography, symbols which also indicate wisdom. This led to his association with bees, beekeepers, chandlers, wax refiners, etc.
Born
c.340 in Trier, southern Gaul (modern Germany)
Died
Holy Saturday, 4 April 397 at Milan, Italy of natural causes
relics at basilica of Milan
Canonized
Pre-Congregation
Patronage
bee keepers
bees
bishops
candle makers
chandlers
domestic animals
French Commissariat
geese
honey cake bakers
learning
livestock
police officers
schoolchildren
security personnel
starlings
students
wax melters
wax refiners
in Italy
Milan, archdiocese of
Vigevano, diocese of
Alassio
Bologna
Carate Brianza
Caslino d’Erba
Lombardy
Lonate Pozzolo
Milan, city of
Monte San Savino
Stresa
Vigevano, city of
Representation
baby with bees on his mouth
beehive
bees
bishop holding a church
bones, referring to the relics of Saint Gervase and Saint Protase which were revealed to him in a vision
dove
man arguing with a pagan
ox
pen
lash, whip or scourge, usually with three thongs; represents the doctrine of the Trinity which defeated the Arian
with Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine of Hippo
beehive at his feet
books
at the grave of Saint Martin of Tours (Ambrose saw his burial in a vision)
with Saint Protase and Saint Gervase (they appeared to Ambrose in a vision to lead him to their lost relics)
tower
Ambrose of Milan (Memorial)
—
Agatho of Alexandria
Anianas of Chartres
Antonius of Siya
Athenodoros of Mesopotamia
Buithe of Monasterboice
Burgundofara
Charles Garnier
Diuma
Geretrannus of Bayeux
Humbert of Clairvaux
John the Silent
Martin of Saujon
Mary Joseph Rosello
Nilus of Stolbensk
Polycarp of Antioch
Sabinus of Spoleto
Serena of Spoleto
Servus the Martyr
Theodore of Antioch
Urban of Teano
—
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War
Enrique Andrés Monfort
—
Eutropius of Saintes
Peter Baietta
Simeon of Vance
December 7 Saint Ambrose
One of Ambrose’s biographers observed that at the Last Judgment people would still be divided between those who admired Ambrose and those who heartily disliked him. He emerges as the man of action who cut a furrow through the lives of his contemporaries. Even royal personages were numbered among those who were to suffer crushing divine punishments for standing in Ambrose’s way.
When the Empress Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from Ambrose’s Catholics and give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs of the court to execute him. His own people rallied behind him in the face of imperial troops. In the midst of riots, he both spurred and calmed his people with bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern melodies.
In his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle: “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.” He publicly admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent people. The emperor did public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose, the fighter, sent to Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a catechumen to be the people’s bishop.
There is yet another side of Ambrose—one which influenced Augustine, whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose was a passionate little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy face and great eyes. We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the codex of sacred Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic heritage and learning.
Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less soothing and entertaining but far more learned than that of other contemporaries. Ambrose’s sermons were often modeled on Cicero, and his ideas betrayed the influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He had no scruples in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He gloried in the pulpit in his ability to parade his spoils—“gold of the Egyptians”—taken over from the pagan philosophers.
His sermons, his writings and his personal life reveal him as an otherworldly man involved in the great issues of his day. Humanity, for Ambrose, was, above all, spirit. In order to think rightly of God and the human soul, the closest thing to God, no material reality at all was to be dwelt upon. He was an enthusiastic champion of consecrated virginity.
The influence of Ambrose on Augustine will always be open for discussion. The Confessions reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose and Augustine, but there can be no doubt of Augustine’s profound esteem for the learned bishop.
Neither is there any doubt that Monica loved Ambrose as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all, who placed his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he descended into the baptismal fountain to put on Christ.
Comment:
Ambrose exemplifies for us the truly catholic character of Christianity. He is a man steeped in the learning, law and culture of the ancients and of his contemporaries. Yet, in the midst of active involvement in this world, this thought runs through Ambrose’s life and preaching: The hidden meaning of the Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world.
Quote:
“Women and men are not mistaken when they regard themselves as superior to mere bodily creatures and as more than mere particles of nature or nameless units in modern society. For by their power to know themselves in the depths of their being they rise above the entire universe of mere objects.... Endowed with wisdom, women and men are led through visible realities to those which are invisible” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 14–15, Austin Flannery translation).
Patron Saint of:
Bee keepers
Learning
www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx