Ambrose of Milan

Bishop of Milan · c. 340–397

Ambrose was born into a powerful Roman family and was governor of the northern Italian provinces before he was thirty. When the Arian bishop of Milan died, he came to the election to keep the peace, and to his surprise both parties demanded him as bishop. He was not yet baptized, and he was held under arrest until he agreed to serve.1

When we speak of wisdom, we are speaking about Christ. When we speak about virtue, we are speaking about Christ. When we speak about justice, we are speaking about Christ.2 Ambrose of Milanas quoted by Mark Galli

Ambrose was a master of Latin eloquence and allegorical preaching. He introduced congregational singing in the West, wrote hymns, and in 390 refused communion to the emperor Theodosius until he did public penance for a massacre. Augustine came to hear him as a teacher of rhetoric, but, as Nathan Busenitz writes, “the content of Ambrose’s sermons began to penetrate his heart.”3

His Legacy

Ambrose’s stand against Theodosius set a pattern for the claim that the church may discipline princes. His threefold sense of Scripture helped grow the medieval fourfold sense. The Catechism of the Catholic Church cites his On the Mysteries, with Chrysostom, in support of the change of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood. Rome counts him among its eight great Doctors of the Church.4

Church Fathers

Notes

  1. Mark Galli and Ted Olsen, eds., 131 Christians Everyone Should Know (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), “Ambrose of Milan.” Summarized. ↩
  2. Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Ambrose of Milan.” ↩
  3. Galli and Olsen, 131 Christians, “Ambrose of Milan.” Summarized; Nathan Busenitz, Forerunners of the Faith Teacher’s Guide: 13 Lessons to Understand and Appreciate the Basics of Church History (Chicago: Moody, 2020), 62. ↩
  4. Michael J. Vlach, “Historical Theology I: A.D. 100–1600” (course notes, TH 507, The Master’s Seminary, Fall 2007), “Bible Interpretation”; Gregg R. Allison, Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), citing Catechism of the Catholic Church 1375–76 and Ambrose, On the Mysteries 9.50, 52; James G. McCarthy, The Gospel According to Rome (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1995), on the Doctors of the Church. ↩