THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
in four keys with the traditional Church psalmody. Whether it was introduced by Ambrose, bishop of Milan (374-397), or whether he merely regulated and improved it, is not certain. The singing had been confined to the choir (Gk. psaltai, Lat. cantores), who recited the psalms and prayers in monotonous fashion with no fixed rules. The new Ambrosian tunes were lively and joyous, all took part in the singing, and the people found pleasure and enjoyment in it. Augustine in his Confessions (IX. vii. 15; X. xxxiii. 50) speaks in glowing terms of the effect of this new method of singing, which was executed " with a clear voice and modulation most suitable." Antiphonal or responsive singing between men and women, congregational choirs, or congregation and choir, borrowed from the Greek Church, came particularly into use (see Antifhon). As text Ambrose used the Greek and Latin hymns already existing, both rimed and unrimed. He also composed hymns himself, generally without rimes, but well adapted to the melodies; as Dens creator omnium; Jam surgit hora tertia; /Eterne rerum conditor ; Veni redemptor gentium ; perhaps also 0 lux beata Trinitas ; Splendor paternm gloria.
The Ambrosian music spread rapidly and was soon dominant throughout the West. But in course of time an artificial and profane manner crept in, which, toward the close of the sixth century, called forth the Gregorian reaction; and thus the singing in the churches was again confined to the choirs or the clergy. The popular, fresh, congregational singing of the Reformation period may be regarded as a partial revival of the ancient Ambrosian chant. M. Heeold.
Bibliography: H. A. Daniel, Thesaurus hymnologicus, Halle, 1841; C. Fortlage, Gesange christlicher Vorzeit, Berlin, 1844; F. J. Mone, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, 3 vols., Freiburg, 1853-54; J. Kayser, Beitrage zur Geschichte und Erklarung der altesten Kirchenhymnen, Paderborn, 1881; F. Gevsert, Les origines du chant liturgique dans Veglise latine, Paris, 1890; M. Dreves, Aurelius Ambrosius der "Vater des Kirchengesangs," Freiburg, 1893; H. A. Kostlin, Geschichte der Musik, Berlin, 1899.
AMBROSIANS: Name of several religious societies, organized in the city or diocese of Milan after the fourteenth century, which chose St. Ambrose as their patron. The only one to attain more than local importance was the Order of the Brethren of St. Ambrose of the Grove (Fratres S. Ambrosii ad Nemus), founded before 1530 by three pious Milanese, Alexander Crivelli, Alberto Besuzi, and Antonio Petrasancta, and called after their meeting-place, a grove outside the Porta Cumena in Milan, to which Ambrose used at times to resort (cf. his De bono mortis, iii. 11). Gregory XI. confirmed the society in 1375 on the rule of St. Augustine; Eugenius IV. in 1445 united it with three other Ambrose-brotherhoods, which had originated independently at Genoa, Eugubio, and Recanati near Ancona, into a Congregatio S. Ambrosii ad Nemus M ediolanensis . Sixtus V brought about in 1589 the reunion of the Milanese and a non-Milanese division of the order, which was temporarily separated under the name of Congregatio fratrum S. Ambrosii ad Nemus et S. Barnabce. To these combined Ambrose and Barnabas orders, Paul V. granted many privileges
in 1606. But Innocent X., considering the smallness and insignificance of the order, decided upon its dissolution about 1650. The bull with respect to it is given in the Bullarium magnum, iii. 194.
The following societies were confined to Milan and its neighborhood: (1) The Nuns of St. Ambrose of the Grove, founded in 1475 by two ladies of Milan not far from Pallanza on Lago Maggiore. (2) The Schola S. Ambrosii or Oblationarii, a society of old men and women who undertook to assist at the Ambrosian mass in the churches of Milan, especially in bringing oblations (pblationes) . (3) The Society of the Oblates of St. Ambrose, founded by Archbishop Carlo Borromeo and confirmed by Gregory XIII. in 1578. They were bound to strict obedience to superiors, especially the archbishop of Milan. During the seventeenth century the society was in a flourishing state and numbered about 200 members, but having decreased to only 16 in 1844 it was abolished. O. ZocklerI".
Bibliography: Helyot, Ordres monastiques,iv. 52-63, Paris, 1715; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, i. 488-4S9, 510, ii. 336-338.
AMBROSIASTER: The name commonly used for the unknown author of the Commentaria in xiii. epistolas beati Pauli, which, from about 850 until the time of Erasmus, were commonly ascribed to Ambrose of Milan. This opinion, which is not yet quite extinct, has no support in ancient tradition, and there are many reasons against it — such as the style, the Scripture version used, the opinion about the authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the attitude toward Greek literature. But the idea that it is a compilation made about 800 is equally baseless. The Codex Cassinensis, though lacking Romans, shows that the commentary had its recognized form earlier than 570. The Scripture text is consistent, belonging to a time before Jerome and to the recension known as the Itala. The anthropology is naive pre-Augustinian; the eschatology is still millenarian; the polemics against heresy point to the period about 380; the filioque is lacking. Numerous small details of historical allusion point to the same date.
Little success has attended the attempt to identify the author. Because Augustine in 420 quoted a passage as from sanctus Hilarius, some critics have been inclined to see in the Ambrosiaster's work a part of the lost commentary of Hilary of Poitiers on the Epistles. For a long time it was thought that Augustine referred to the Roman deacon Hilary, the partizan of Lucifer of Calaris. The presbyter Faustinus, the opponent of Damasus and author of a treatise on the Trinity, has also been suggested. But neither the style, the Scripture version used, nor the christology is his. The author was probably a presbyter of the Roman Church; possibly Augustine and he were both quoting Hilary. The attempt to identify him, on the ground of notable similarities, with the author of the pseudo-Augustinian Qumstiones ex utroque testamento has not met with general approval.
Though the work of Ambrosiaster does not, from an antiquarian standpoint, belong to the most interesting relics of Christian antiquity, its exegesis