Ambrose

Ambrose, Saint, of Milan, one of the Fathers of the Latin Church, born 340 A.D. The son of a Prefect of Gaul, and himself holding similar office in Liguria and Emilia, he was, for his many good qualities, chosen Bishop of Milan in 374. He opposed the Arian heretics at the council of Aquileia, and he refused to allow the Emperor Theodosius to enter his church until he had done penance for a massacre at Thessalonica. Chanting was borrowed by him from the Pagan rites, and one of the recognised liturgies was his composition. The Te Deum has been by some ascribed to his authorship. He wrote several treatises, e.g. on the duties of priests, and on virginity, besides a letter to Valentinian against Symmachus, but his works are more remarkable for subtlety and fancy than for solid merit and good taste. He died in 397. The great library at Milan bears his name, and the Milanese church still employs the Ambrosian use or liturgy, which some hold to be the use upon which that of the English church is founded.