Selections from the Letters of St Ambrose

Saint Ambrose of Milan · c. 388 AD

Ante-Nicene Fathers (Roberts–Donaldson), Roberts, Donaldson, and Coxe (eds.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885–1887; digitized by CCEL.

Archbishop of Milan; Roman magistrate elected bishop by acclamation while still a catechumen, then baptized, ordained, and consecrated in a single week. The principal Latin teacher to St Augustine. His dogmatic treatises on the Holy Spirit and on the Incarnation transmitted Greek (especially Basilian) theology to the Latin West; his hymns and homilies shaped Western liturgical music for centuries. One of the Four Latin Doctors of the West, recognized as a saint in both East and West (commemorated 7 December).

Contents

1. Memorial of Symmachus, the Prefect of the City(1 chapter)
2. Epistle XVII: To Valentinian II(1 chapter)
3. The Memorial of Symmachus, Prefect of the City(1 chapter)
4. Epistle XVIII: To Valentinian, in Reply to Symmachus(1 chapter)
5. Epistle XX: To Marcellina as to the Arian Party(1 chapter)
6. Letter XXI: To Valentinian II., Declining Challenge of Auxentius(1 chapter)
7. Sermon Against Auxentius on the Giving Up of the Basilicas(1 chapter)
8. Letter XXII: To Marcellina on Finding the Bodies of SS. Gervasius and Protasius(1 chapter)
9. Letter XL: To Theodosius as to the Burning of a Jewish Synagogue(1 chapter)
10. Letter XLI: To Marcellina on the Same(1 chapter)
11. Letter LI: To Theodosius After the Massacre at Thessalonica(1 chapter)
12. Letter LVII: To Eugenius, Reproving Him(1 chapter)
13. Letter LXI: To Theodosius, After His Victory Over Eugenius(1 chapter)
14. Letter LXII: To Theodosius, Urging Him To Be Merciful(1 chapter)
15. Epistle LXIII: To the Church at Vercellæ(1 chapter)