Feast day: December 7
St. Ambrose
Roman governor acclaimed bishop of Milan by the crowd before he was even baptized; he faced down emperors, freed the Church from state control, and baptized Augustine.
Ambrose was born about 340 into a high-ranking Roman family and trained for public life, becoming the imperial governor of the region around Milan — then one of the capitals of the Western Empire. He had no thought of being a churchman. But in 374, when the bishopric of Milan fell vacant and the city was bitterly divided between Catholics and Arians, Ambrose went to keep the peace at the election — and the crowd, suddenly and with one voice, demanded that he, the popular young governor, be made bishop, though he was not yet even baptized.
Reluctantly accepting what he took to be God's will, he was baptized and consecrated within a week. He gave his wealth to the poor, immersed himself in Scripture and the Greek Fathers, and became one of the greatest bishops in the Church's history — a fearless defender of orthodoxy against the Arians and a champion of the Church's independence from the state.
He did not flinch before emperors. He refused to hand over a church to the Arian court, holding a vigil with his people inside until the troops withdrew; and when the Emperor Theodosius ordered a massacre of thousands at Thessalonica, Ambrose barred him from communion until he did public penance — a stunning assertion that even an emperor stands under the moral law of God.
He was also a great preacher and teacher, who introduced the singing of hymns and psalms to sustain his people, and whose words played a decisive part in the conversion of St. Augustine, whom he baptized. He died in 397 and is honored as one of the four great Latin Doctors of the Church, alongside Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great.
He was elected bishop while still an unbaptized catechumen — the crowd started chanting his name and wouldn't stop. He went from baptism to bishop in eight days.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do. (his advice to Monica on local customs)”
— St. Ambrose
Image: artist unknown (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/01383c.htm
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