in 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 de- posed. 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 300 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 humilia- tion. Ambrose was the principal instructor of Au- gustine in the Christian faith. 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 exhorta- tions 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 impos- ture 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 employ ment 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 A brosianus," which is said to have had a reference to the modes of the ancients, especially to that of Ptole- mauis. This is rather matter of conjecture than cer- tainty, although the Eastern origin of Christianity and the practice of the Greek fathers render the supposition probable. The effect of the Ambrosian chant is de- scribed 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 mu- sic tli us described exist at the present time is exceed- ingly doubtful ; the style of singing it may, however, have been preserved ; and this is still said to be ap- plied at Milan to compositions of adate comparatively recent I Biog. Diet. Soc. Useful Knowledge). His writ- ings are mine numerous than valuable. Ten of the many hymns which are ascribed to him are generally admitted to lie genuine, but it is doubtful whether the Ambrosian Hymn or the Tv Deum is by him. The best edition of his complete works has been published by the Benedictines under the title, Opera, ad manu- tcriptos codices Vaticanos, GaUicanos, Belgicos, etc., nee- nm ad editiones veteres emendata, studio monachorum ordmis Benedicti (Par. 1686-90, 2 vols, fob; also printed 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, •-' vols.: Vol. I contains ffexcemeron, lib. 3; De Paradiso; /><■ ('■'in ,/ Abel; he Woe et Area; De Abra- ham: De Isaac ei Anima; De /.'»//<< Mortis; l>< Fuga Scscvli : De Jacob et Vitabeata; De Josepho Patriarcha /!, Benedtetionibus Patriarcharum ; De Elia et Jejimio j> Vabuth TsraeUta, DeTobia; De InterpeUaHone Job et David; Apologia Prcpheta David; Enarrationes in
Psalmos i, axxv-xl, xliii, xlv, xlvii, xlviii, hi, E.rpositio in Psalmum civiii; Expositio in Lucam. Vol.11 con- tains De Officiis Mlnistrorum ; De Virginibus ; De Vi- dws; De Virginitate; De Jnstitutione Virginis ; Exhor- tatio Virginitatis : De Lapsu Virginis; De Mysteriis; De Sacramentis ; De Panitentia ; De Fide ; De Spiritu Sanc- to; De Incarnationis Dominicce Sacramento; Frag. Am- brosianum ex Theodoreto desumptum ; Epistolce ; De cx- cessu Fratris siti Satyri; De Obitu Valentiniani Conso- latio ; De Obitu Theodosii Oratio ; Hymni aliquot Ambro- siani. — Waddington, Ch. Hist. ch. iv ; Heinze, Beschr. d. Backer d. Ambrosius "cfe offieiis" (Weimar, 1790); Michelsen, De Ambrosio fidei vindice (Hann. 1825); Bohringer, Kirche Christi, I, iii, 1-98.
Ambrose the Camaldule, a French ecclesias- tical writer, was born at Portico, a little town near Florence. He was but fourteen years of age when he entered the order of Camaldules, and afterward be- came one of the first men of his age in theology and Greek literature; his master in the latter was Em- manuel Chrysolares. In 1431 he became general of his order, and afterward was several times appointed to the cardinalate ; but, whether or not he refused it, he never possessed that dignity. Eugenius IV sent him to the Council of Basle, where, as well as at Fer- rara and Florence, he supported the pope's interests. He did all in his power to bring about the union of the Greek and Latin Churches, and he drew up the for- mula of union at the desire of the council. He died October 21, 1439. His works are, 1. Ilodceporicon ; an A ccount of a Journey taken to visit the various Monas- teries of Italy, ly the Pope's command (1G78 ; Florence and Lucca, 1681, 4to) : — 2. Formula of union between the Churches (in the Coll. of Councils) :— 3. Life of St. Chrysostom, by Palladius ; translated from the Greek into Latin (Venice, 1533) : — 4. The Four Books of Manuel Calecas against the Errors of the Greeks (Ingolstadt, 1608) : — 5. Nineteen Sermons of St. Ephrem Syrus: — 6. St. Dionysius the A reopngite on the Celestial Hierarchy : — 7. The Book of St. Basil on Virginity, and many other translations of the Greek Fathers, which have been printed at different times. The library of St. Mark at Florence contains also many MSS. by this writer, viz. : 1. A Chronicle of Monte-Cassino : — 2. Two Books of his Proceedings while General of the Camaldules: — 3. The Lives of certain Saints: — 4. A Treatise of the Sacrament of the Body of Christ : — 5. A Treatise against the, Greek Doctrine of the Procession: — 0. A Discourse made at the Council of Florence : — 7. A Treatise against those who blame the monastic state. Besides these, Mabillon and Martene have discovered various other smaller works by this author, exclusive of twenty books of his let- ters given in the third volume of the Veterum Scrip