St Ambrose

Ambrose is one of the greatest bishops of the ancient Church. Born into a distinguished Christian household, trained in law and public service, and made governor before he was forty, he was unexpectedly chosen bishop of Milan while still only a catechumen when the city was divided over the Arian controversy.

Once baptized and consecrated, he gave away much of his property, set himself to hard theological study, and quickly became a pastor of unusual firmness, simplicity, and public courage. This life follows him through his resistance to the Empress Justina and the Arians, his rebuke of the Emperor Theodosius after the massacre at Thessalonica, his friendship with St Monica, his role in Augustine's conversion, and the large body of teaching that made him one of the four great Latin doctors.