Who was Saint Ambrose?

      Aurelius Ambrosius  (Italian: Sant’Ambrogio), better known in English as St. Ambrose, was born in 340 and died April 4, 397.   He was the Bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century, and one of the four original Doctors of the Church, notable for his influence on, and the conversion of,  Augustine of Hippo.  He was born into a Roman Christian family in Gallia Belgica (modern-day Trier, Germany)  and raised by his father, who was an Official, and his mother, who was said to be a woman of intellect and piety.

     After the early death of his father, Ambrose followed his father’s career.  He was educated in Rome, studying literature and law, and eventually he became part of the council,  governor of Liguria and Emilia, and later on, Bishop of Milan.   A very popular political figure,  he introduced popular reforms in the order and manner of public worship, and he displayed a liturgical flexibility that believed liturgy was a tool to serve people in worshiping God.  He was also generous to the poor and considered the poor, not to be a distinct group of outsiders, but a part of the united solitary people, deserving of generosity, as a repayment of resources that God had originally bestowed on everyone equally.  Immediately after he became Bishop, he apportioned his money to the poor and donated all his land.

     St. Ambrose exemplifies for us the truly catholic character of Christianity.  He was 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’ life and preaching:  The hidden meaning of the Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world.  

     Ambrose’ feast day is December 7, and along with being the patron saint of Milan, St. Ambrose is the patron saint of learning.