St. Ambrose of Milan icon by Theophilia on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

St. Ambrose of Milan icon © Cecilia Lawrence December 11th, 2018 8 x 10 inches 11¼ hours Ink, watercolor, gold leaf

“Thou didst shine with divine doctrine, eclipsing the error of Arius; working miracles in the power of the Spirit thou didst heal various passions. O righteous father Ambrose, shepherd and teacher, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.”
~ Kontakion (Tone 3) for St. Ambrose

“Father, if possible, take away this cup from me.” Many cling to this text in order to use the sadness of the Savior as proof that He had weakness from the beginning rather than taking it on for a time. In this way they distort the natural meaning of the sentence. I, however, consider it not only as something that does not need to be excused, but nowhere else do I admire more His tender love and majesty. He would have given me less, had He not taken on my emotions. Thus He suffered affliction for me, He who did not have to suffer anything for Himself. Setting aside the enjoyment of His Divinity, He is afflicted with the annoyance of my weakness. He took on my sadness so that He might bestow on me His joy. He descended into the anguish of death by following in our footsteps so that He might call us back to life by following in His footsteps. I do not hesitate to speak of sadness since I am preaching the Cross; He took on not the appearance but the reality of the Incarnation. Thus, instead of avoiding it, He had to take on the pain in order to overcome sadness.”
~ from A Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke by St. Ambrose

I was commissioned to make an image of St. Ambrose of Milan. I drew some inspiration for my depiction of him from the near contemporaneous mosaic portrait of him in the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan. I have shown him wearing a golden chasuble decorated with gold brocade patterns and a bishop’s pallium and a bishop’s miter. The miter’s accents are in purple, which is the color for Advent (during which his feast day always falls). In his right hand he holds a scroll with the music and words from the great hymn Te Deum that he composed. In his other hand, he holds a quill pen (representing his role as writer and teacher) and a book of the Gospels. The design for that was inspired by the one from the St. Ambrose mosaic in the Palantine Chapel in Palerno, Sicily. In the crook of his arm is his bishop’s crosier, decorated with a beehive and honey bees and some octagonal shapes reminiscent of a honeycomb. This is a reference to the story about him that tells that when he was an infant, a swarm of bees settled around his mouth and left a drop of honey on his tongue. This was taken to be a sign of his future eloquence. Bees are also symbols of wisdom and industriousness, and Ambrose was often referred to as the “honey-tongued Doctor.”

:+: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE SAINT :+:

Saint Ambrose of Milan (c. 340 A.D. – April 4th, 397 A.D.), or Aurelius Ambrosius was born in Augusta Treverorum (modern-day Trier) in northern Gaul. His father—also named Aurelius Ambrosius—was the praetorian prefect of Gallia Belgica and his mother was a devout Christian of the Roman family Aurelii Symmachi. Ambrose was the youngest of three children; his eldest sister was named Marcellina and his brother was Satyrus. His father died around 354, so their mother moved the small family back to Rome. Hid sister Marcellina helped her mother take care of her younger siblings as they grew up, and later received the veil of consecrated virginity from Pope Liberius on Christmas of 353. His pious mother and sister were a great influence on the young Ambrose. While he was in Rome, he studied Roman law, rhetoric, and Latin and Greek literature in school. His legal training gave his words a polished, eloquent, and persuasive edge. His good grasp of Greek was a great help to him in his later studies of Sacred Scripture. But as a young man, he followed his father’s career path and entered public service. His abilities as a lawyer brought him to the attention of the Praetorian Prefect Probus, who made him one of his councilors. Around the year 372, when Ambrose was about 32 years old, Probus obtained for him the consular governorship of Liguria and Aemilia in northern Italy from Emperor Valentinian. His headquarters were in Mediolanum (Milan) which was then the capital of the Western Roman Empire. On Ambrose’s appointment to the office, Probus famously said, “Go, conduct yourself not as a judge, but as bishop.” Ambrose soon became renowned for his justice, gentleness, and his administrative ability. He was a popular and admired figure in the court of Valentinian I and was well-liked by the people.

When an Arian bishop in Milan named Auxentius died in 374, there was great civil upheaval as both the Catholic and the Arian parties vied with each other to appoint the next bishop. Ambrose went to Milan to try and soothe the anger and turmoil of the population. As he tried to calm the people in the church where the election was to take place, exhorting the people to conduct themselves with peace and moderation, a voice suddenly cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!” Both sides immediately (and it seemed, miraculously) greeted the idea enthusiastically, and soon all the people of Milan were shouting “Ambrose for bishop!” throughout the city. Ambrose was greatly dismayed and tried desperately to dissuade the people from making him bishop. He protested that he wasn’t even baptized (and therefore ineligible for the office) and that he had no formal theological training and that he was personally unqualified for such an office. His efforts were futile however, and as the people clamored around him begging him to accept the election, he fled from the church and took refuge in the house of a friend. When word of the situation reached the Emperor Valentinian, he warmly approved the people’s choice and ratified the election by imperial decree, and furthermore decreed that severe penalties would be the lot of anyone who tried to hide him. His friend was forced to give him up, and Ambrose very reluctantly accepted the episcopal dignity. He was baptized by a Catholic bishop, and a week later, on December 7th 374, at the age of 34, he was consecrated bishop of Milan.

His first action as bishop was to liquidate all of his personal property and give the proceeds to the poor, excepting some which was left over to support his sister Marcellina. His landed property he gave to the Church, and his brother Satyrus left his own career as a prefect to help him manage the secular affairs of the diocese. Thanks to his brother’s administrative abilities, Ambrose was able to devote himself entirely to the spiritual well-being of the diocese. He then assiduously dedicated himself to theological studies, especially the study of Sacred Scripture. His mastery of the Greek language helped him tremendously while reading the exegetical insights of the Church Fathers, especially of Origen, Athanasius and Basil of Caesarea (the latter to whom he also wrote) and the other Greek Fathers of the Alexandrian school. He was helped in this task by the priest Simplicianus of Rome who was his teacher in theology. Ambrose studied diligently so that he could preach well to his congregation, and he very quickly achieved a great reputation for his wisdom and eloquence. But in the beginning of his work On the Duties of the Clergy, Ambrose complained that, “…I was carried off from the judgment seat, and the garb [infulis] of office, to enter on the priesthood, and began to teach you, what I myself had not yet learned. So it happened that I began to teach before I began to learn. Therefore I must learn and teach at the same time, since I had no leisure to learn before.” St. Augustine himself testified to Ambrose’s teaching ability, saying, “He was one of those who speak the truth, and speak it well, judiciously, pointedly, and with beauty and power of expression.” Recalling the time when he was still a young teacher of rhetoric in Milan (around the year 384) and first met the man who was to play a pivotal role in his conversion, St. Augustine in his Confessions wrote:

“So I came to Milan, to the bishop and devout servant of God, Ambrose, famed among the best men of the whole world…That man of God received me as a father, and as bishop welcomed my coming. I came to love him, not at first as a teacher of the truth, which I had utterly despaired of finding in [the Catholic Church], but for his kindness towards me. I attended carefully when he preached to the people, not with the right intention, but only to judge whether his eloquence was equal to his fame or whether it flowed higher or lower than had been told me. His words I listened to with the greatest care; his matter I held quite unworthy of attention. I enjoyed the charm of his speaking…Thus I did not take great heed to learn what he was saying but only to hear how he said it; that empty interest was all I now had…Yet along with the words, which I admired, there also came to my mind the subject matter, to which attached no importance. I could not separate them. And while I was opening my heart to learn how eloquently he spoke, I came to feel, though only gradually, how truly he spoke. First I began to realize that there was a case for the things themselves, and I began to see that the Catholic faith…could be maintained on reasonable grounds: this especially after I had heard explained figuratively several passages of the Old Testament which had been a cause of death for me when taken literally…I determined, then, to go on as a catechumen in the Catholic Church—the church of my parents—and to remain in that state until some certain light should appear by which I might steer my course.” (Confessions: Book V; XIII and XIV)

Augustine’s mother Monica—who had followed her wayward son to Milan—also met Ambrose, to whom she quickly became very devoted, as Augustine himself recounts: “…She hastened to church more zealously than ever and drank in the words of Ambrose as a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting. She loved that man as an angel of God because she had learned that it was by him that I had been brought so far as to the wavering state I was now in…For on account of my salvation she loved [Ambrose] dearly; and he loved her on account of her most religious way of life, for she was fervent in spirit and ever doing good, and she haunted the church. So that when he saw me he often broke out in her praises, congratulating me that I had such a mother, and not realizing what sort of a son she had.” (Confessions: Book 6; I and II).

Ambrose spent much of his time preaching, teaching, reading, settling disputes in his diocese, and confronting Arians. But it is also from Augustine that we have this intimate portrait of his daily life:

“I could not ask of him what I wished as I wished, for I was kept from any face to face conversation with him by the throng of men with their own troubles, whose infirmities he served. The very little time he was not with these he was refreshing either his body with necessary food or his mind with reading. When he read, his eyes travelled across the page and his heart sought into the sense, but voice and tongue were silent. No one was forbidden to approach him nor was it a custom to require that visitors should be announced: but when we came into him we often saw him reading and always to himself; and after we has sat long in silence, unwilling to interrupt a work on which he was so intent, we would depart again. We guessed that in the small time he could find refreshment for his mind, he would wish to be free from the distraction of other men’s affairs and called away from what he was doing…Anyhow I was given no opportunity of putting such questions as I desired to that holy oracle…Still, I heard him every Sunday preaching the word of truth to his congregation…And it was a joy to hear Ambrose who often repeated to his congregation, as if it were a rule he was most strongly urging upon them, the text: “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” And he would go on to draw aside the veil of mystery and lay open the spiritual meaning of things which taken literally would have seemed to teach falsehood.” (Confessions: Book 6; III and IV)

In the midst of the theological disputations between the Arian and Catholic parties, two Arian bishops named Palladius of Ratiaria and Secundianus of Singidunum asked the Emperor Gratian to call a general council from across the Empire (relying on the number of Arians to outnumber the Catholics) to try and resolve the issues being brought up. Ambrose advised the Emperor to call a synod of Western bishops to decide the matter, so a synod was called at Aquileia in 381 where Ambrose presided. Palladius was called upon to defend his Arian position, but he declined. The bishops voted and Palladius and Secundianus were declared deposed. Ambrose also persuaded Gratian to remove the pagan Altar of Victory in Rome where pagan rites were still celebrated.

After Gratian was killed in 383, his half-brother Valentinian II took the throne at the age of 12. His mother Empress Justina—an Arian—ruled during his minority. It was at this point that she and Ambrose clashed. She demanded that Ambrose hand over two churches in Milan (the Basilica of the Apostles and St. Victor's) to be given over for Arian use. Ambrose staunchly refused. He was summoned to defend himself before the imperial court, and his eloquence was such that they permitted him to return to Milan without surrendering the churches. Justina, however, was not satisfied with this and she sent the city prefect to try to persuade Ambrose again to hand over at least one of the churches in the city. He again refused, but the imperial officers ignored him and began making preparations to take over the Portian basilica for the Arian celebrations of Easter. The mood in the city turned ugly, and the Catholic populations ran to the churches and barricaded themselves in along with their shepherd. Ambrose told the Empress, “If you demand my person, I am ready to submit: carry me to prison or to death, I will not resist; but I will never betray the church of Christ. I will not call upon the people to succour me; I will die at the foot of the altar rather than desert it. The tumult of the people I will not encourage: but God alone can appease it.” St. Augustine mentions how it was under these circumstances of great duress and persecution that Ambrose introduced the practice of chanting the Psalms along with other hymns in church:

“I wept at the beauty of Your hymns and canticles, and was powerfully moved at the sweet sound of Your Church’s singing. Those sounds flowed into my ears, and the truth streamed into my heart: so that my feeling of devotion overflowed, and the tears ran from my eyes, and I was happy in them…It was only a little while before that the church of Milan had begun to practice this kind of consolation and exultation, to the great joy of the brethren singing together with heart and voice. For it was only about a year, or not much more, since Justina, the mother of the boy Emperor Valentinian, was persecuting [Ambrose] in the interests of her own heresy: for she had been seduced by the Arians. The devoted people had stayed day and night in the church, ready to die with their bishop…And my mother…bearing a great part of the trouble and vigil, had lived in prayer…[I also] was stirred to excitement by the disturbed and wrought-up state of the city. It was at this time that the practice was instituted of singing hymns and psalms after the manner of the Eastern churches, to keep the people from being altogether worn out with anxiety and want of sleep. The custom has been retained from this day to this, and has been imitated by many, indeed in almost all congregations throughout the world.” (Confessions, Book 9, VI)

Justina and the Arian party were forced to rescind the imperial edict in the face of the people’s opposition. Soon afterwards, another great event took place: the discovery of the bodies of the martyred brothers Protasius and Gervasius in June of 386:

“For when they were discovered and dug up with due honor and brought to Ambrose’s basilica, not only were people cured who had been tormented by evil spirits—and the devils themselves forced to confess it—but also there was a man, a citizen well known to the city, who had been blind for many years: he asked what was the cause of the tumultuous joy of the people, and when he heard, he sprang up and asked his guide to be allowed to touch with his handkerchief the place one which lay the saints…He did so, put the handkerchief to his eyes, and immediately they were opened. The news spread abroad…and if the mind of that angry woman [the Empress Justina] was not brought to the sanity of belief, it was at least brought back from the madness of persecution. Thanks be to my God!” (Confessions, Book 9; VII)

Justina and the young Valentinian II soon had to make peace with Ambrose, as the usurper Magnus Maximus consolidated his power in Gaul and threatened to overrun Italy. Ambrose was sent on an embassy to dissuade him from such a terrible course of action, and the good bishop succeeded. However, when Maximus descended down on Italy in 387, Ambrose was unsuccessful in preventing him. Maximus took over Milan, and drove out Justina and Valentinian, who fled to Theodosius, the Augustus of the Eastern Empire. Theodosius took up the young man’s cause and defeated Maximus at Aquileia in 388, and had him executed. Valentinian II was reinstated as Emperor of the West, but was murdered in 392 at the age of 21 by a usurper named Arbogast (who maintained that his death was a suicide). After he defeated Arbogast and Eugenius at the Battle of the Frigidus River in 394, Theodosius the Great then became the sole (and last) Roman Emperor of a united Eastern and Western Empire.

In April of 390, the populace of Thessalonica rioted against the Gothic garrison and the commander Butheric after the latter had arrested a popular charioteer in the city. The people killed Butheric along with a number of other prominent civil authorities after he refused to release the charioteer. The Emperor Theodosius was furious when he heard the news, and dispatched troops to quell the unruly people. He quickly changed his mind however, and sent a messenger after the troops, but his order was too late. The historian Theodoretus wrote: “The anger of the Emperor rose to the highest pitch, and he gratified his vindictive desire for vengeance by unsheathing the sword most unjustly and tyrannically against all, slaying the innocent and guilty alike. It is said seven thousand perished without any forms of law, and without even having judicial sentence passed upon them; but that, like ears of wheat in the time of harvest, they were alike cut down.” When Ambrose heard of the affair, he promptly excommunicated Theodosius and refused him access to Eucharist until he repented and did penance. In a letter to the Emperor he wrote:

“What could I do? Should I not hear?...Was I then to be silent? But this would be the most miserable of all, for my conscience would be bound, my liberty of speech taken away. And what then of the text, if the priest warn not the wicked from his wicked way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but the priest shall be liable to punishment, because he did not warn him?... You have a zeal for the faith, I own it, you have the fear of God, I confess it: but you have a vehemence of temper, which if soothed may readily be changed into compassion, but if inflamed becomes so violent that you can scarcely restrain it. If no one will allay it, let no one at least inflame it. To yourself I would willingly trust, for you are wont to exercise self-control, and by your love of mercy to conquer this violence of your nature…You are a man; temptation has fallen upon you; vanquish it. Sin is not washed away but by tears and penitence. Neither Angel nor Archangel can do it. The Lord Himself, Who alone can say ‘I am with you’; even He grants no remission of sin save to the penitent. I advise, I entreat, I exhort, I admonish; for I am grieved that you who were an example of singular piety, who stood so high for clemency, who would not suffer even single offenders to be put in jeopardy, should not mourn over the death of so many innocent persons. Successful as you have been in battle, and great in other respects, yet mercy was ever the crown of your actions. The devil has envied you your chief excellence: overcome him, while you still have the means. Add not sin to sin by acting in a manner which has injured so many…I have still reason for apprehension: if you purpose being present, I dare not offer the Sacrifice. That which may not be done when the blood of one innocent person has been shed, may it be done where many have been slain?”

Evidently Theodosius at first ignored Ambrose’s excommunication and tried to enter the church where Ambrose was celebrating Mass. As he began to enter, Ambrose met him at the door and turned him away, rebuking him sternly for the massacre. Theodosius returned to his palace “weeping and sighing.” Ambrose enjoined him to do penance for eight months, and then finally readmitted him into the Church after he had promised to promulgate a law to prevent executions from being carried out immediately after sentencing.

Under Ambrose’s influence, the penitent Theodosius began acting as the secular upholder of Christianity. He began promulgating a series of laws that outlawed paganism, abolished pagan holidays, extinguished the eternal fire and disbanded the Vestal Virgins, closed the Roman temples, and withdrew public funds used for the performance of pagan rites and the upkeep of pagan temples. The last of the ancient Olympic Games were held in 393, and a number of pagan temples all throughout the Empire were torn down or were converted into churches. Theodosius died at the age of 48, only a year after defeating Arbogast and the usurper Eugenius. Ambrose wrote his funeral oration, and said of Theodosius, “I have loved a man who esteemed those who reprove more than those who flatters. [Theodosius] threw on the ground all the royal attire that he was wearing. He wept publicly in church for his sin. . . He prayed for pardon with groans and with tears. What private citizens are ashamed to do, the emperor was not ashamed to do, namely, to perform penance publicly.”

Two years later, worn out by his labors, Ambrose began to sicken. He prophesied that he would die before Easter, and recommended that his old friend and teacher Simplicianus would be his successor. Stilicho, when he heard that Ambrose lay sick, was alarmed, saying, “The day that great man dies, destruction hangs over Italy” and sent dignitaries and friends to Ambrose to beg the saintly bishop to remain with them longer. He replied, “I have not so behaved myself among you that I should be ashamed to live longer; nor am I afraid to die, because we have a good Master.” A few days later, on Holy Saturday (April 4th 397), Ambrose died after receiving the Eucharist from St. Honoratus the Bishop of Vercelli (and the last bishop that Ambrose had ordained). He was about 57 years old, and the whole of Italy mourned him greatly. He was buried in the crypt of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio next to the bodies of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius where they can be seen to this day.

Nine years after his death, a pagan Gothic king named Radagaisus invaded Italy and besieged Florence. The people had given up all hope of salvation when one man saw St. Ambrose in a vision in which the holy bishop told the citizens not to lose courage for the enemy would be driven away the next day. The man related this vision to the rest of the Florentines, and sure enough, Stilicho arrived the next day with his army and drove the Gothic enemy away.

St. Ambrose, along with Saints Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome is known as one of the Great Latin Doctors of the Church. His own writings were voluminous, and his extant works include numerous dogmatic, exegetical, and moral works, along with commentaries on Scripture. He also produced numerous sermons, wrote many letters, and at least 12 hymns (the most famous of which are the Te Deum and Veni Redemptor gentium).

“You have entered upon the office of bishop. Sitting at the helm of the Church, you pilot the ship against the waves. Take firm hold of the rudder of faith so that the severe storms of this world cannot disturb you. The sea is mighty and vast, but do not be afraid, for as Scripture says: he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.

The Church of the Lord is built upon the rock of the apostles among so many dangers in the world; it therefore remains unmoved. The Church's foundation is unshakeable and firm against the assaults of the raging sea. Waves lash at the Church but do not shatter it. Although the elements of this world constantly beat upon the Church with crashing sounds, the Church possesses the safest harbor of salvation for all in distress. Although the Church is tossed about on the sea, it rides easily on rivers, especially those rivers that Scripture speaks of: The rivers have lifted up their voice. These are the rivers flowing from the heart of the man who is given drink by Christ and who receives from the Spirit of God. When these rivers overflow with the grace of the Spirit, they lift up their voice.

There is also a stream which flows down on God's saints like a torrent. There is also a rushing river giving joy to the heart that is at peace and makes for peace. Whoever has received from the fullness of this river, like John the Evangelist, like Peter and Paul, lifts up his voice. Just as the apostles lifted up their voices and preached the Gospel throughout the world, so those who drink these waters begin to preach the good news of the Lord Jesus.

Drink, then, from Christ, so that your voice may also be heard. Store up in your mind the water that is Christ, the water that praises the Lord. Store up water from many sources, the water that rains down from the clouds of prophecy.

Whoever gathers water from the mountains and leads it to himself or draws it from springs, is himself a source of dew like the clouds. Fill your soul, then, with this water, so that your land may not be dry, but watered by your own springs.

He who reads much and understands much, receives his fill. He who is full, refreshes others. So Scripture says: If the clouds are full, they will pour rain upon the earth.

Therefore, let your words be rivers, clean and limpid, so that in your exhortations you may charm the ears of your people. And by the grace of your words win them over to follow your leadership. Let your sermons be full of understanding. Solomon says: The weapons of the understanding are the lips of the wise; and in another place he says: Let your lips be bound with wisdom. That is, let the meaning of your words shine forth, let understanding blaze out. See that your addresses and expositions do not need to invoke the authority of others, but let your words be their own defense. Let no word escape your lips in vain or be uttered without depth of meaning.”
~ from a letter by St. Ambrose of Milan

The Feast of St. Ambrose of Milan is celebrated on December 7th.

St. Ambrose of Milan is the patron saint of Milan, beekeepers, candle-makers, and singers of antiphonal and Ambrosian chant.

O God, who made the Bishop Saint Ambrose a teacher of the Catholic faith and a model of apostolic courage, raise up in your Church men after your own heart to govern her with courage and wisdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.