St. Ambrose

On December 7 the Church honors St. Ambrose (c. 340-397), Bishop of Milan and one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church. Born around 340 at Trier, where his father was prefect of Gaul, he was a civil official — not yet baptized — when he was acclaimed Bishop of Milan by the people in 374, during a riotous election. Within a week he was baptized, ordained, and consecrated bishop. He ruled the see for twenty-three years, defending the Nicene faith against the Arian Empress Justina, and in 387 he baptized Augustine of Hippo in the baptistry of Milan.

His relics are enshrined in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio at Milan, which he founded, and which holds him, St. Gervasius, and St. Protasius in the golden sarcophagus beneath the high altar. His feast, December 7, is kept in the Latin Church on the date of his ordination and burial; in the Eastern Churches he is kept on the same date. He is the patron of Milan, of beekeepers (because a swarm of bees settled on him as an infant), and of hymn-writers (the Ambrosian hymn tradition includes the Te Deum, attributed to him in medieval tradition). Rome also keeps the Ambrosian tradition at the church of Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso, and the Latin liturgical tradition as a whole bears Ambrosian marks in its music and its prayers.