Rome: Ambrose Was The Patron Saint Of Milan

Ambrose (c.340 - 397) [Trier, Rome, Milan]. Educated in Rome, Ambrose was the patron Saint of Milan. He studied law, and entered the civil service, becoming an excellent administrator. He was called to be Bishop in 374 while still a Catechumen, and he hesitated, but finally accepted. He was gentle and wise, much loved by the people, but he was severe toward all transgressors. He was strongly influenced by the Greek theologians and emphasised the ascetic life. Modifications in the church's ritual, which are still retained at Milan, were made by Ambrose. He opposed efforts to introduce Arian worship to the churches. As a friend of Monica, mother of Augustine, he was successful in winning Augustine to the church. He wrote commentaries on

388) [Milan, Rome, Boa]. Jovinian was an unashamed heretic; he opposed Monasticism, excessive fasting, and celibacy, though he himself was unmarried. He maintained that Mary was not a virgin after the birth of Jesus, also that divine blessing does not depend on good works, and that a true Christian cannot sin wilfully. His opinions were opposed by Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine. So he went to Rome where he was excommunicated and the Emperor Honorius enacted a law against the Jovinians. In spite of his banishment to the island of Boa of Illyria, his ideas spread, and a number of Nuns married. No writings have been handed down from him, (surprise, surprise!) our knowledge rests on Jeromes treatise against

to 400 A.D. is commonly called the Patristic Period, that is, the period of the Church Fathers. It reached its culmination in the personality and work of St. Augustine. Up to this point we see the Church, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, gradually gaining strength and power, however, these gains were built on and through a regime of fear; fear from the consequences of any form of dissention. Their leaders were ruthless in the extreme, as countless martyr's throughout the early Christian period testifies. In the main Polytheism has been seen off, save for the odd adherent such as (Jamblichus and his followers), and a monotheistic God it would seem, has indeed developed from the origin of all worship, from the earliest times, "THE SUN" which for some sects even today, is preferred. At least The Sun is