The Miracle-Attended Death of Saint Ambrose of Milan as Recorded by His Secretary, Paulinus

Detail from The Death of Saint Ambrose by Bon Boullogne, ca. 1706.

Readers of this blog will recall that I have written frequently on the eventful life of Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church, including his acclamation as bishop even before he was baptized, his discovery of the remains of Saints Protase and Gervase, his conflicts with the Empress Justina, and his confrontation with Theodosius the Great.

On this feast day of Ambrose, let us examine some of the strange and portentous events which attended his death in AD 397, as attested by his secretary, Paulinus, who was witness to these things and wrote at the behest of Saint Augustine shortly thereafter. 

Writing in his Life of Saint Ambrose, Paulinus records that when Ambrose fell sick, the potential loss of so great a man was dreaded by all, including the military commander of the Roman west, Stilicho, who likely feared the instability that the naming of a new bishop of the important see of Milan might bring:

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But after these days, when a bishop was ordained for the church of Ticinum, [Ambrose] fell ill and while he was being confined to his bed for many days by this illness, Count Stilicho is reported to have said that with the departure of so great a man from this life, ruin would threaten Italy. Therefore after calling together into his presence the nobles of the city whom he knew were beloved by the bishop, partly with threats and partly with soft words, he persuaded them to go to the holy bishop and induce him to seek of the Lord the privilege of a longer period of life for himself. When he heard this from them he answered: “I have not so lived among you that I am ashamed to live nor do I fear to die, because we have a good Lord!” 

In the meantime, the Church authorities in Milan took to discussing who Ambrose's successor might be while the old man was on his sickbed:  

At the same time when Castus, Polemius, Venerius, and Felix, then deacons, were together in the farthest part of the portico in which he lay, and were conversing among themselves in such a low tone that they could scarcely hear each other, as to who should be consecrated bishop after his death, and when they spoke of the name of Saint Simplicianus, Ambrose as if taking part in the conversation—although he lay placed far away from them—exclaimed thrice in approbation: “Old but good.” For Simplicianus was ripe in years. When they heard this voice, they fled greatly terrified. But when he died, no other succeeded him in the episcopacy than he whom he had designated three times as good but old. And to this Simplicianus, Venerius was the successor, whom we have mentioned above, while Felix to this day ruled the Church of Bonona. And Castus and Polemius, however, nourished by Ambrose, the good fruits of a good tree, are performing the duties of the diaconate in the church of Milan. 

Other holy bishops from the region had premonitions of Ambrose's impending death, one of whom was wakened from sleep in time to give the last rites: 

In the same place, however, in which he lay, as we have learned from the report of Saint Bassianus the Bishop of the Church of Lodi who had heard it from the Saint himself, when he saw the Lord Jesus advance to him and smiling upon him. And not many days after he was taken from us. But at the very time when he departed from us to the Lord, from about the eleventh hour of the day until the hour in which he breathed forth his spirit, he prayed with his arms extended in the form of a cross. We indeed saw his lips move but his voice we did not hear. Honoratus also, the bishop of the Church of Vercelli, when he had lain down to rest in the upper part of the house, heard a voice calling him three times and saying to him: “Arise, hasten, because now he is about to depart.” And he going down offered the Saint the Body of the Lord and when he took and swallowed it he breathed forth his spirit, bearing with him a good viaticum so that his soul refreshed by virtue of this food now rejoices in the company of the angels, according to whose life he had lived on earth, and in the society of Elias, because just as Elias never feared to speak to kings or any powers, so neither did he for fear of God. 

The day after his death, the newly baptized claimed that they could see his spirit in the basilica:

And then at the hour before daybreak in which he died, his body was carried to the greater church and it was there on the same night in which we kept the vigil of Easter. And many baptized children as they were coming from the font saw him, so that some said he was sitting on the throne9 in the sanctuary, while others pointed him out with their fingers to their parents as walking, but the latter, on looking, were unable to see him because they did not possess clean eyes. And many related, moreover, that they had seen a star over his body. 

The unholy were also impacted by Ambrose's death and reacted accordingly:

But on Sunday at daybreak when, after the sacred rites had been performed, his body was being taken away from the church to be carried to the Ambrosian Basilica in which it was placed, thereupon a crowd of demons so cried out that they were being tormented by him that their wailing could not be endured. 

As was common among Christians, a huge crowd of the devout sought relics from the remains of the deceased saint, including what modern Catholics would term "second class relics": 

And this grace of the bishop remains even to the present day not only in that place, but also in great many provinces. Crowds of men and women also threw their handkerchiefs or girdles that the body of the Saint might in some way be touched by them. For the crowd at the obsequies was numberless, of every rank and of every sex and almost all ages, not only of Christians but also of Jews and pagans. Yet the ranks of those who had been baptized led the way because of their greater favor. 

Amazingly, a letter was received after Ambrose's death in which the correspondents claimed that they had seen a vision of him. This letter was dated, according to Paulinus, on the precise day of Ambrose's death. 

But on the very day on which he died (as the text of the letter says which was received by his successor, the venerable man Simplicianus, sent from the East to Ambrose himself as if still living with us, which letter even to this day is preserved in a monastery at Milan), he appeared to certain holy men, praying with them and placing his hands upon them. For the letter which was sent has the date, and when we read this letter we found that it was the day on which he died.

Paulinus goes on to describe other miracles associated with Ambrose after his death, including a vision in which he appeared to the general Mascezel during his campaign against the rebel Gildo in Africa. This vision heartened Mascezel and he was able to defeat the rebellion. For the complete account as well as several others, read Paulinus's The Life of Saint Ambrose in full. 

For details on Ambrose's early life, here's a quick video complete with a few images of Ambrose and his family from ancient and Medieval art.

"Did you not see a white-haired man with torn clothing come this way?" Martyrdom of Saint Victor the Moor, May 8

Mosaic of Saint Victor the Moor
from the dome of the Sacello di
San Vittore in Ciel d'Oro. 

Today, May 8, is the feast day of the early Christian martyr, Saint Victor the Moor. He is also known as Saint Victor of Milan and has long been considered one of the patron saints of that city. It is believed that he was martyred there in the 4th century AD after having refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods at the command of the persecuting emperor Maximianus Herculius, the colleague of Diocletian who ruled in the west from AD 285 to about AD 310. His story was well-known in his day and he is the subject of a Latin hymn by Saint Ambrose (along with two soldier-martyr companions) written less than a century after his martyrdom. The hymn is rendered as follows in English by Brian Dunkle in Enchantment and Creed in the Hymns of Ambrose of Milan:

Devoted Victor, Nabor, Felix
the martyrs of Milan,
guests on our soil, Moorish born,
and foreigners in our lands,

The scorching sand gave them to us,
Sand that pants from the solar heat,
The farthest limit of the earth
And an exile from our name.

The Po received them as its guests
with the steep price of their blood,
the faith of the church their mother
filled them with the Holy Spirit,

And she crowned herself
By three martyrs’ holy blood,
and consecrated them soldiers to Christ
who were snatched from godless camps.

Their effort helped them in their faith,
Trained in the wartime arms
to give their life for the king,
it befit them to suffer for Christ.

The soldiers of Christ sought
no iron spears nor weapons;
he who claims the true faith
walks about defended by arms.

His faith is a shield for the man
And death is his triumph, whom the tyrant
hostile to us sent as martyrs
to the town of Lodi.

But they have returned our victims;
their bodies borne on chariots,
returned to the gazes of the princes
in the manner of triumphal chariot.

The mosaic portrait of Saint Victor above crowns the interior of the dome of Sachello di San Vittore in Ciel d'Oro, and may be seen to this day in Milan. The mosaic was created in the 6th century, about 200 years after his martyrdom. At about this same time, the Passion of Saint Victor was written, probably with considerable ornament and interpolation. Following is an excerpt from near the end of this work:

Then the emperor Maximianus ordered that [Victor] be led to the Vercelline Gate: and while they awaited the emperor's commands they paused there. Then the soldiers who were guarding Saint Victor fell asleep, and rising Victor fled and hid himself in a stable in front of the theater. Then the soldiers rose and pursued him, and finding a lone woman they questioned her, asking "Did you not see a white-haired man with torn clothing come this way?"

The woman replied, and said, "I did see a white-haired man with torn clothing flee this way."

Then the soldiers continued their pursuit along the road which was named after the stables, and they arrived in front of the theater; and entering the stables they found Saint Victor hidden in front of the horses. Then the soldiers assaulted him and brought him outside. When Maximianus heard that Victor had fled he was furious with his soldiers, and he ordered other soldiers to take them outside the city to a place called the Garden of Philippus. The emperor himself strolled about in the hippodrome of the circus, and sent runners to Victor, saying "Go and tell Victor, 'You have despaired for your life, and you are not willing to offer sacrifice: by the gods, if you do not sacrifice I will sentence you to capital punishment.'"

To these Victor replied, "Go and tell your emperor, 'Do quickly what you are about to do because I want to receive my reward from God, the reward for which I suffer these things, and because it is time: if it should please him who has given me my soul and spirit.'"

Then the emperor Maximianus ordered his servants to be called, and he told them that Victor was to be led to a small wood named The Elms, where he the emperor had a garden, and that he was to be beheaded there. And when Saint Victor was being brought there, he said to the soldiers who were bringing him, "Tell the emperor Maximianus that he will die this year, and that when he is dead no grave will accept him unless his legs are broken." When he had said these things they reached the place, and Victor made a speech, saying, "I thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you have not separated me from your saints, my fellow citizens, Nabor and Felix. I bless and thank you forever. Amen." When the speech was complete his head was cut off by a servant.

The remainder of this Passio may be read here. Though it is believed that several details of this account are fanciful, one can detect bits and pieces that ring authentic. Of particular note is one small item which is mentioned at the very end of the Passio — the burning of the official record of the execution by the court officials:

Then Anolinus the consiliarius ordered all the exceptores in the palace to be seized, and made them swear by their gods that if any of them had any written record no one would conceal it. Then they all swore by the gods and by the safety of the emperor that no one would conceal such, and all the papers were brought forward, and Anolinus had them burned before him by a servant. This greatly pleased the emperor.

The burning of Christian literature and records was, apparently, a common practice during the persecution of Diocletian. For more on this topic, see: "The Scriptures Destroyed by Fire" ~ An official Roman transcript from the Great Persecution of AD 304.