Ambrose's preaching continues to ring out in churches around the world, especially during Advent when we sing his magnificent, proclamatory hymn, "Savior of the Nations, Come."
Recently, while visiting a fellow pastor at his local congregation, he showed me the pulpit. This pulpit - which was a new addition to the Church - was handcrafted and had the images of four preachers from the history of the church carved into it. The first preacher was John the Baptist. The second, I immediately recognized as Martin Luther. However, the identities of the other two were a bit more obscure. Both of these preachers were hymn writers and early church fathers. One was St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), who wrote the Lenten hymn, "O Sacred Head Now Wounded." The other was St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397), who wrote, "Savior of the Nations, Come." As I observed the form of Ambrose carved into the dark wood, I realized anew that the fellowship of those who preach the gospel includes those who have passed from this life and are now in the Church triumphant.
Ambrose's preaching continues to ring out in churches around the world, especially during Advent when we sing his magnificent, proclamatory hymn, "Savior of the Nations, Come." Commemorated by the church calendar on December 7th, Ambrose is known as the "singing doctor" of the church. Yet, interestingly enough, Ambrose did not start as a preacher. He began his adult life as a career politician. Ambrose was a preacher who we might call a "second-career pastor" today.
Ambrose was born and lived his early life in the mid-300s in Trier, Germany, one of the remotest northwestern outposts in the Roman Empire. Ambrose's father was a Roman soldier who died when Ambrose was still young. After his father's death, Ambrose and his family moved to Rome. After receiving his education, Ambrose became a magistrate in Milan. It was in this city that Ambrose would unintentionally enter the clergy. In 375, as the lead civil authority in Milan, Ambrose mediated between two arguing factions that each pushed for their own candidate to become the next bishop of the city. Having eloquently employed his well-honed rhetoric to bring the two sides together, Ambrose endeared himself so much to Milan's Christians that they insisted on making him their new bishop. [1]
Ambrose was hardly qualified to serve as a bishop since he was not even ordained as a priest. Moreover, Ambrose was a recent convert to the Christian faith and had yet to be baptized! When he was unable to convince the people that he could not serve as their bishop, Ambrose finally fled. After several unsuccessful attempts to run away from the vocation forced upon him, Ambrose finally submitted to becoming the bishop of Milan at the insistence of the Roman Emperor himself. [2]
Regardless of the circumstances leading to his appointment, Ambrose threw himself into the work of a bishop with vigor. Within a short time, Ambrose became an outstanding preacher, pastoral caregiver, hymn writer, and theological educator of future pastors. [3] Although he officially changed careers, Ambrose still wielded some influence within Roman politics. In 379, Ambrose successfully counseled Emperor Gratian to forbid the public teaching of Arianism, the heresy that denied that Christ is true God who has come in human flesh for our salvation. [4] Ambrose recognized that all right preaching in the church must have the incarnate Christ Jesus as its central and sole content.
Ambrose's preaching of Christ became famous throughout the entire Western church, and his proclamation led to many conversions. One of them dramatically affected the course of Western Christianity for centuries to come. [5] In Romans 10:14-17, St. Paul tells us that "Faith comes by hearing" through the proclamation of preachers. Without a doubt, the most famous convert who came to faith through Ambrose's preaching was Aurelius Augustine, who himself became a renowned preacher, bishop, theologian, autobiographer, and doctor of the church. [6] In his Confessions, Augustine states he first heard the proclamation of Christ as his Savior and, as a result, received faith in Jesus for salvation through Ambrose's preaching. In Confessions, he also claims it was Ambrose who taught him the important distinction between law and gospel. This distinction is one the later Bishop of Milan would later take up in his own theology and eventually pass, by way of his writings, to a certain Augustinian friar by the name of Martin Luther. [7]
Augustine's conversion certainly ensured that the preaching of this great Bishop of Milan would leave a permanent mark on Western history. Indeed, Ambrose is numbered along with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great as one of the four original doctors of the Western church. [8]
Ambrose's pastoral legacy still reaches Christians today. His preaching is still heard through the singing of his hymns, especially his great Advent carol, "Savior of the Nations, Come." In this hymn, often sung around the time of his commemoration and throughout the season leading up to Christmas, Ambrose continues to proclaim Jesus Christ and the salvation he brings. Through the words of this hymn, the saving truth of Christ's incarnation for us comes through words of still-unrivaled beauty.
This year, as you observe the season of Advent, I encourage you to read, sing, study, reflect, and have your faith strengthened by Anselm's timeless preaching of the God who became human for you in the Christ child conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
"Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin's Son, make here Your home!
Marvel now, O heav'n and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth." [9]
[1] Gifford A. Grobien, “Ambrose of Milan,” in Lutheran Service Book, Companion to the Hymns, Vol. 2 (St. Louis: CPH, 2019), 189.
[2] Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, Revised and Updated (New York: Harper, 2010), 219-220.
[3] González, 220-221.
[4] Treasury of Daily Prayer, ed. Scott A. Kinnaman, et al. (St. Louis: CPH, 2008), 992-993.
[5] González, 220-221.
[6] St. Joseph Daily Missal, Completely Revised Edition, ed. Rev. Fr. Hugo Hoever and Rev. Fr. Richard Kigelman (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1959), 726.
[7] St. Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (New York: Penguin, 1961), 115-116.
[8] Grobien, 189.
[9] Ambrose of Milan, “Savior of the Nations, Come,” LSB 332, stanza 1 public domain.
