Originally published at National Catholic Register
St. Ambrose lived from about A.D. 340-397. His birthplace is disputed: Trier (in today’s Germany), Arles and Lyons (in today’s France) contend for the honor. All three were important cities in the Roman Empire and Ambrose’s father was Prefect of Gaul, which encompassed these territories.
The family was Christian. While Ambrose came into the world about a generation after Constantine’s famous Edict of Milan that put an end to the persecution of Christianity and afforded it toleration in the Roman Empire, his family had been Christian for generations (as well as having responsible state roles). Ambrose’s elder sister was a religious.
Ambrose did not originally aspire to the religious life: he held a variety of civil posts, including becoming governor of the Milan area around A.D. 372. In 374, the Arian bishop of Milan died.
Ambrose was firmly orthodox in his faith, rejecting Arianism (though not individual Arians), a heresy that plagued the Church for decades, though it tended to be embraced more by higher clergy than the common faithful. Catholic theology teaches Jesus is “true God and true man,” having a complete human and a complete divine nature in one Person. The Arians denied this: they turned Jesus into
