deacon of Alexandria, flourished chiefly about the year 230; he was a man of wealth, and by his wife, Mavella, had many children. For some time he was entangled in the errors of the Valentinians and Marcionites, but Origen brought him to the true faith. With Origen he became closely intimate, and they studied together. He is said to have furnished Origen with seven secretaries, whom he kept constantly at work. Ambrose died about 250, after the persecution of Maximinus, in which he confessed the faith boldly with Protoctetes, a priest of Caesarea in Palestine. His letters to Origen, which St. Jerome commends highly, are lost. The Roman Church commemorates him as confessor on March 17. — Euseb. Ch. Hist. 6, 18; Landon, Eccl. Dictionary, 1, 302.
Ambrose
bishop of Milan, was born about 340, at Treves (Augusta Trevirorum), where his father resided as prefect of the Praetorium, among the Gauls. It is said that while he was yet an infant a swarm of bees settled upon his mouth, which his father interpreted as a portent of future greatness. After his father’s death his mother took him to Rome, where he received the education of an advocate under Anicius Probus and Symmachus. For some time he pleaded at the bar, and his success, together with his family influence, led to his appointment (about A.D. 370) as consular prefect of Liguria and Emilia, a tract of Northern Italy which extended, as near as can be ascertained, to Bologna.
It is said that Anicius Probus, the prefect, when he sent him to his government, did so in these remarkable words, which may well be called prophetic, “Go, then, and act, not as a judge, but as a bishop." Ambrose made Milan his residence; and when Auxentius the bishop died, the people of Milan assembled to elect a successor. This the cruel divisions made in, the Church by the Arian heresy rendered no easy matter; and the contest was carried on between Catholics and Arians with such violence that Ambrose was obliged to proceed himself to the church to exhort the people to make their election quietly and in order. At the close of his speech the whole assembly, Arians and Catholics, with one voice demanded him for their bishop. Believing himself to be unworthy of so high and responsible an office, he tried all means in his power to evade their call, but n vain, and he was at last constrained to yield (A.D. 374). He was yet only a catechumen; he had then to be baptized, and on the eighth day after he was consecrated bishop. He devoted himself to his work with unexampled zeal; gave all his property to the Church and poor, and adopted an ascetic mode of life. He opposed the Arians from the very beginning of his episcopacy, and soon acquired great influence both with the people and the Emperor Valentinian. In 382 he presided at an episcopal synod in Aquileia (summoned by the Emperor Gratian), at which the Arian bishops Palladius and Secundianus were deposed. In 385 he had a severe conflict with Justina (mother of Valentinian II), who demanded the use of at least one church for the Arians; but the people sided with Ambrose, and Justina desisted. In the year 390 he excommunicated the Emperor Theodosius for the massacre at Thessalonica, and did not absolve him till after a penance of eight months and a public humiliation. Ambrose was the principal instructor of Augustine in the Christian faiths He died at Milan, April-4, 397, and is commemorated in the Roman Church as a saint Dec. 7.
His writings abound in moral lessons, plentifully interspersed with exhortations to celibacy and the other superstitions of the day. It is also recorded that he performed many astonishing miracles — stories that throw disgrace on an elevated character, which really needed not the aid of imposture to secure respect or even popularity. He has deserved from succeeding generations the equivocal praise that he was the first effectual assertor of those exalted ecclesiastical pretensions so essential to the existence of the Romish system, and so dear to the ambitious ministers of every Church. His services to church music were very great; he was the father of “hymnology" in the Western Church. The writings of the early fathers concur in recording the employment of music as a part of public worship, although no regular ritual was in existence to determine its precise form and use. This appears to have been first supplied by Ambrosius, who instituted that method of singing known by the name of the “cantus Ambrosianus," which is said to have had a reference to the modes of the ancients, especially to that of Ptolemaeus. This is rather matter of conjecture than certainty, although the Eastern origin of Christianity and the practice of the Greek fathers render the supposition probable. The effect of the Ambrosian chant is described in glowing terms by those who heard it in the cathedral of Milan. “The voices," says Augustine, "flowed in at my ears, truth was distilled into my heart, and the affection of piety overflowed in sweet tears of joy." Whether any genuine relics of the music thus described exist at the present time is exceedingly doubtful; the style of singing it may, however, have been preserved; and this is still said to be applied at Milan to compositions of a date comparatively recent (Biog. Dict. Soc. Useful Knowledge). His writings are more numerous than valuable. Ten of the many hymns which are ascribed to him are generally admitted to be genuine, but it is doubtful whether the Ambrosian Hymn or the Te Deum is by him. The best edition of his complete works has been published by the Benedictines under the title, Opera, ad manuscriptos codices Vaticanos, Gallicanos, Belgicos, etc., ad editiones veteres emendata, studio monachorum ordinis Benedicti (Par. 1686-90, 2 vols. fol.; also reprinted without the Indexes, Paris, 1836, 4 vols. large 8vo). The Appendix contains three lives of Ambrose. His writings are arranged as follows in the edition of 1686, 2 vols.: Vol. I contains Hexoemeron, lib. 3; De Paradise; De Cain et Abel; De Noe et Arca; De Abraham; De Isaac et Anima; De Bono Mortis; De Fuga Soeculi; De Jacob et Vita beata; De Josepho Patriarcha; De Benedictionibus Patriarcharum; De Elia et Jejunio; De Nabuthe Israelita; De Tobia; De Interpollatione Job et David; Apologia Prophetae David; Enarrationes in Psalmos1:35-40, 43i, 45, 47, 48, 49; Expositia in Psalmum 118; Expositio in Lucam. Vol. II contains De Officiis Ministrorum; De Virginibus; De Viduis; De Virginitate; De Institutione Virginis; Exhortatio Virginitatis De Lapsu Virginis; De Mysteriis; De Sacramentis; De Ponitentia; De Fide; De Spiritu Sancto; De Incarnationis Dominicae Sacramento; Frag. A mbrosianum ex Theodoreto desumptum; Epistolae; De excessu Fratris sui Satyri; De Obitu Valentiniani Consolatio; De Obitu Theodosii Oratio; Hymni aliquot Ambrosiani. — Waddington, Ch. Hist. ch. 4; Heinze, Beschr. d. Bucher d. Ambrosius "de officiis" (Weimar, 1790); Michelsen, De Ambrosio fidei vindice (Hann. 1825); Bohringer, Kirche Christi, 1, 3, 1-98.
(c 340-397) Imperial governor of Upper Italy who became Bishop of Milan in 374. His actions reveal the new power of the Christian Church after Constantine, but also its intolerance of heretics and pagans; exerted strong influence over the young Emperor Gratian and the Emperor Theodosius. Augustine was converted (& baptized) under his influence. Ambrose also influenced church music. See entry in Catholic Encyclopedia
By: Louis Ginzberg
The Callinicum Riot.
Church father and author; born about 340 at Treves; died 397 in Milan. This audacious prelate—who as bishop of Milan dared to say of his emperor, "The Emperor is in the Church, but not over the Church"—is more renowned perhaps for his energy and zeal than for his learning. His attitude toward Jews and Judaism was uncompromisingly hostile. An address of his to Christian young people warns them against intermarriage with Jews ("De Abrahamo," ix. 84, xiv. 451). But his opposition assumed a more positive and active character in the matter of the bishop of Callinicum in Mesopotamia. It appears that in 388 a mob, led by the local bishop and many monks, destroyed the synagogue at Callinicum. The emperor Theodosius the Great, who can scarcely be accused of lack of religious zeal, was nevertheless just enough to order the reerection of the synagogue at the expense of the rioters, including the bishop. Ambrose immediately issued a fiery protest to the emperor. He writes to Theodosius ("Epistolæ," xl. xvi. 1101 et seq.) that "the glory of God" is concerned in this matter, and that therefore he can not be silent. Shall the bishop be compelled to reerect a synagogue? Can he religiously do this thing? If he obey the emperor, he will become a traitor to his faith; if he disobey him, a martyr. What real wrong is there, after all, in destroying a synagogue, a "home of perfidy, a home of impiety," in which Christ is daily blasphemed? Indeed, he (Ambrose) must consider himself no less guilty than this poor bishop; at least to the extent that he made no concealment of his wish that all synagogues should be destroyed, that no such places of blasphemy be further allowed to exist. He also states, in extenuation, that in the time of Julian, the Jews destroyed the Christian basilicas in Gaza, Ascalon, Alexandria, and elsewhere. It is hard to say just what foundation there is for this charge againstthe Jews, seeing that all the misfortunes which befell the Christians in Julian the Apostate's reign were laid upon their shoulders. Continuing in this strain Ambrose implored the emperor to recall his edict. The emperor made no reply to this appeal; but his silence, instead of disconcerting the energetic churchman, simply induced him to take advantage of the opportunity which a visit by Theodosius to Milan in the winter of 388-89 offered, to speak upon the matter from the pulpit in the emperor's presence ("Epist." xl., xvi. 1113). He was, however, shrewd enough to appeal to imperial magnanimity, and with the most favorable result; for after the service Theodosius greeted the bishop with the words, "Thou hast preached against me!" "Not against thee, but in thy behalf!" was the prelate's ready reply; and, taking advantage of the emperor's passing humor, he succeeded in obtaining his promise that the sentence should be completely revoked. In this manner, this altogether discreditable affair ended in the victory of the Church, with the very natural consequence that thereafter the prospect of immunity thus afforded occasioned spoliations of synagogues all over the empire. That Ambrose could nevertheless occasionally say a good word for the Jews is shown by a passage in his "Enarratio in Psalmos" (i. 41, xiv. 943), in which he remarks, "Some Jews exhibit purity of life and much diligence and love of study."
Ambrose, the "Christian Philo."
That in his literary activity Ambrose drew extensively upon Philo is well known; the fact even gained for him the name of "Philo Christianus," the Christian Philo (Aucher, introduction to Philo, "Quæstiones et Solutiones"). He was the channel through which many types and personifications originating with the Alexandrian Jewish philosophy were embodied in both the art and the literature of the Middle Ages down to Dante. So closely does he follow Philo that many corrupt passages of the latter's text may be emended through Ambrose's quotation of them, and many misreadings may in this way be corrected (compare Förster, "Ambrosius, Bischof von Mailand," p. 180, and the Vienna edition of Ambrose, xxii. pt. i. 360). Examples of Ambrose's indebtedness to Philo are to be found in his interpretation of the four rivers of Paradise (compare Ambrose, "De Paradiso," iii. 14, xiv. 280, with Philo, "Leg. Allegr." xix.) as the four cardinal virtues, wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. The law concerning the children of the two wives (Deut. xxi. 15) is explained by Ambrose ("De Abel et Cain," i. 4, xiv. 322) almost exactly in the words of Philo ("De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini," v.). Philo interprets Adam as signifying "reason"; Eve, "emotion." Ambrose has it: "Adam mentem diximus; Evam sensum esse significavimus" ("De Abrahamo," ii. 1. xiv. 455).
Palestinian Influence upon Ambrose.
For a complete collection of allegorical interpretations drawn by Ambrose from Philo, see Siegfried "Philo von Alexandria," pp. 371-87. This collection will serve to show his indebtedness to Philo, not only in the matter of actual allegorical imagery borrowed from him and the adoption of his rules of interpretation, but also in the numerous echoes of the Philonic doctrines concerning God and man which therein abound. Besides Philo, the IV. Maccabees exerted great influence upon Ambrose, particularly in regard of his homiletic style, which in later days was regarded as unapproachably fine. Freudenthal shows how he quoted long extracts from this book in his sermons, frequently, indeed, word for word. But in addition to these Alexandrian sources it is not so generally known that there are numerous traces of Palestinian-Jewish influence upon Ambrose. Such Palestinian interpretations as that of the explanation of Jacob's blessing (Gen. xlix.) as referring to events in the careers of the sons ("De Benedictionibus Patriarcharum," ii. 8, iii. 2, xiv. 676-677) may have been derived from hearsay. That he adopts the Jewish conception of the Antichrist as springing from the tribe of Dan ("De Bened. Patr." vii. 32, xiv. 684) does not necessarily prove his acquaintance with rabbinical doctrine at first hand; for at this period the Church as a whole had adopted the Jewish conception of Antichrist. Ambrose's remark ("De Fide," iii. 11, 88, xvi. 607) that Melchizedek was not "an angel, as the Church hath received it from Jewish nonsense," but a holy man, shows that he was not above palming off as Jewish what is distinctly not so, for his statement is controverted by the old Haggadah which identifies Melchizedek with Shem, as Epiphanius ("Adv. Haer." ii. 1, etc. (see Ginzberg, "Monatsschrift," 1899, p. 495). But Ambrose's familiarity with Jewish traditions is evidenced by such statements as ("De Abrahamo," ii. 1, xiv. 455) that Abraham means "one who crossed over." This does not indicate, as has been charged, that he confuses Abraham with Eber; but that he follows the well-known Haggadah (Gen. R. xlii. 8) that Abraham is called "Ibri" (Gen. xiv. 13) because he "came over" the river Euphrates. That he confuses Korah's "children" with Korah's "followers" (see Förster, "Ambrosius," p. 316), also originates in Palestinian tradition; an old baraita (Sanh. 110b), commenting on Num. xxvi. 11, "notwithstanding the children of Korah died not," makes the statement that in Gehenna, into which Korah's conspirators descended, "a stronghold was formed for the children of Korah where they seated themselves and sang hymns." Ambrose's explanation that God brought all the animals before Adam, in order that he might note that each male had its female ("De Paradiso," i. 11, xiv. 299), is the old Haggadah in Gen. R. xvii. 11. He states that Adam exceeded the truth when he told Eve not to touch the Tree of Life (l.c. i. 12, xiv. 303), just as is narrated in "Ab. R. N." i., ed. Schechter, iv. When he says that angels visiting Abraham asked where Sarah was, in order to point out to him her modesty in avoiding strangers ("De Abrahamo," i. 5, end), he is drawing upon Jewish tradition (B. M. 87a). That Ambrose misquotes and misunderstands many Haggadot should not be surprising when Jerome—who for many years sedulously studied at the feet of Jewish rabbis—did the same. Thus Ambrose makes Barak the "son" of Deborah ("De Viduis," i. 8, 45; xvi. 248), whereas the Midrash declares him to have been her "husband" (Tanna debe Eliyahu R. vii.; Yalḳ. on Jud. v. 1; see also L. Ginzberg, "Haggada bei den Kirchenvätern," p. 5).
Ambrose as a strenuous opponent of the Jews on the one hand, and as a faithful pupil of Jewish tradition and Jewish teachers on the other, affords a curious illustration of the peculiar treatment which Judaism has encountered at the hands of individuals as well as nations. See also Hegesippus.
Bibliography:
First edition of Ambrose's works: Basel (Froben), 1527, by Erasmus;
particularly the Benedictine edition, Paris, 1686-90; Venice, 1781 et seq.;
Migne, Patrologia Latina, xiv.-xvii., Paris, 1845; all quotations in this article are from this edition;
an edition after the Milan MSS., by Ballerini, 1875-86, in 6 vols.
A critical edition is now in course of publication in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, xxii.;
Bibliothek der Kirchenväter, selected works by Schulte, vols. xv., xvi.;
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d series, vol. x.;
Some of the Principal Writings of Ambrose, trans. by de Romestin, New York, 1896;
Baunard, Gesch. des Heiligen Ambrosius, 1874;
Böhringer, Die Kirche Christi, x., Stuttgart, 1877;
Förster, Ambrosius, Bishof von Mailand, 1884;
Ebert, Gesch. der Christlich-lateinischen Lit., vol. i., Leipsic, 1889;
Siegfried, Philo von Alexandria, Jena, 1875;
Ihm, Studia Ambrosiana, 1889;
Freudenthal, Die Flavius Josephus beigelegte Schrift: Ueber die Herrschaft der Vernunft, pp. 32-34, Breslau, 1869.