St. Ambrose became known at the Patron of the Veneration of Mary due primarily to his own devotion to her, but it was further enhanced by his extensive writings on the value of the celibate life and virginity. Further, St. Ambrose credited the Blessed Virgin Mary and his devotion to her for the conversion of a head of state who had previously carried out a massacre of Christians and nobles of the Catholic Church in the streets. It was the first time in the history of Christianity where a head of state bowed to a power above his own, that of God. It was considered a great miracle.
Defeater of the Cult of the Goddess of Victory
Born in Germany the son of a praetorian prefect of Gaul, he was taken to Rome when his father died. Becoming a lawyer, he was well-known for his abilities to argue and debate issues of learning. He became the governor of Liguria and Aemilia. It was in this position that he would find his final and most important vocation in life, that of defeating an attempt to reinstate the Cult of the Goddess of Victory – an Arian Heretical Sect.
In 374, the bishop of Milan, Auxentius, died. And in so doing a huge uproar was again caused in the Catholic Church by an uprising of the Arian heresy – a group determined to win their argument that Christ was not divine, but only human. Ambrose was not even baptized at the time and barely Christian.
St. Ambrose Position of Governor Puts Him into a Position of Bishop
As governor, he went to the Cathedral to try to quiet all the infighting and was elected bishop of the church against his will. Even though he tried to refuse the post, the Emperor decreed that he would take it and was baptized on December 7, 374 A.D. and became bishop.
St. Ambrose took his vows seriously as he gave up all his possessions and began to study the teachings of the church and the bible under a tutor named Simplician. Embracing the life of an ascetic, he became a highly considered preacher and opponent of the very heresy which forced his hand in becoming Catholic in the first place.
St. Ambrose Fought the Emperor and Won
When Quinton Aurelius Symmachus caused an uproar and tried to restore a pagan cult to the Goddess of Victory, St. Ambrose defeated his wishes even though the order to give over several churches to the cult in Milan came from the Emperor Valentinus himself. His mother, the Empress Justina, was a secret arian.
There were many edicts that St. Ambrose flatly refused to obey which attempted to overturn Catholic worship and restore Arian reign. Many credit St. Ambrose as having more influence on the rise of Christianity during the time of the fall of the Roman empire than any other human being.
St. Ambrose baptized the famous St. Augustine, as well.
St. Ambrose’s Written Works
De Virginibus and other Writings On Virginity and Consecrated Chastity – St. Ambrose is credited with bringing liturgical hymnody into the Latin Part of the church. He is certain to have written at least four hymns: Aeterne Rerum Conditor, Deus Creator Omnium, Jam Surgit Hora Tertia and Veni, Redemptor Omnium- the one still most utilized today.
The Sixth Doctor of the Catholic Church
The Eighth Doctor of the Catholic Church
Sources: The 33 Doctors of the Church – By Fr. Christopher Rengers, A Catholic Dictionary – By William Addis, The Writings of the Early Church Fathers (Thirty Eight Volumes): Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene – Hendrickson Publishers, Dictionary of Saints – By John J. Delaney, Encyclopedia of Heresies and Heretics – By Chas S. Clifton, A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham – Edited by Eugene R. Fairweather, A Short History of Christian Doctrine: From the First Century to the Present – By Bernhard Lohse
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