The Influence Of Ambrose On The Western Church

After becoming the bishop of Milan, Ambrose made many changes within the Western Church. He was accountable for the two first theological works written in Latin, which were De Sacramentis on the Sacraments and De Spirtu Sancto on the Holy Spirit. Ambrose was also able to instruct and strengthen the process of preparing for Baptism. He reformed the Church’s way of singing by introducing singing into the Western Church. The singing that was done in the church at the time was known as the “Ambrosian Chant.” Ambrose was a great bishop that made one of his goals to make sure that the poor people of Milan were taken care of. He even gave his personal items away to the poor. Ambrose was able to preach to a professor named Augustine and while Augustine
was trying to study the way Ambrose would preach, he became attracted to the Catholic faith. Augustine was baptized by Ambrose and became, along with Ambrose, one of the four original Doctors of the Latin Church. Ambrose died on April 4, in the year 397 AD. His feast day is on December 7th. Ambrose is the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. He became the patron saint of bees and beekeepers because when he was a child, bees covered his face and flew in and out of his mouth and it left honey on his tongue and then the bees flew away. His family took the incident as a miracle and his father knew that he was a special child. Ambrose is not only known as the patron saint of bees but is also known for his ability to read with his mouth closed and without talking or moving his lips. Another Father of the Western Church was St.
Jerome. He was born as Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronis in the year 347 AD in Stridon. Jerome was sent to a pagan school but his father taught him his religion as well. Jerome began to like the pagan writings and lost some of his love and faith for God. Although Jerome grew up learning the pagan background due to his schooling, he decided to be baptized by Pope Liberius in 360 AD. Jerome then decided to live in the desert and resided there for four years. He started out with some of his friends and some of them died and other decided to leave the desert. He entered the desert for penance from his love of pagan writings that he thought would lead him away from God. He practiced self-discipline and although he faced some illnesses in the desert, he also suffered from temptation. He had visions of himself dancing with women and admitted to feeling a lot of desires. Instead of feeding into his temptations, he decided to throw his spirit at the feet of Jesus and watering Jesus’ feet with his tears. Jerome loved God and Jesus Christ but had a very bad temper and made many enemies in his lifetime. St. Jerome was a master in the languages of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Chaldaic. St. Jerome is the patron saint of librarians and his feast day is on September 30. St. Jerome made an important impact within the Western Church and he was also one of the Doctors of the Church. He was able to translate the Bible into Vulgate. This was important because very few men during Jerome’s time and afterward were able to do the work and the translation was declared as the authentic text used in the Western
Church. St. Gregory of Nazianzus was one of the Fathers of the Eastern Church. He was born in Arianzus in Asia Minor in the year 325 AD. His father was Gregory Bishop of Nazianzus and his religiously devoted wife converted him from Hypsistiani to Catholicism. Gregory was on his way to Greece when a terrible storm hit and he was not baptized and he feared dying before washing away his sins so he laid in the ship and promised to dedicate himself to God. After making this promise on the boat, he was saved and spent six years in Athens studying geometry and astronomy. While studying, he met his close friend and a man that would late become the Archbishop of Caesarea, St. Basil. Many years later, when Gregory was thirty-three he was baptized by his father, the Bishop of Nazianzus. Then his father ordained him as a priest, when Gregory’s father wanted to make Gregory a bishop; he left and lived with Basil in Pontus. Gregory did not go back home until the death of his brother and was told about the problems in the church due to Arianism. Gregory hated Arianism and after the death of Valens, the Arian Emperor, Gregory went to Constantinople to preach there. There was no church there so he made his home into a church and the city was filled with violence and corruption. St. Gregory worked hard to bring the Arians back into Christian faith although he was continuously being insulted and beaten up for the service he was trying to provide. St. Gregory is best known for his “Five Theological Orations” which many people liked to hear him preach. The next year, Gregory became the bishop of Constantinople and was apart of the Council of Constantinople. Gregory later retired and returned to Nazianzus and died in 389 AD. St. Gregory’s feast day is January 25 and he is the patron saint of harvests and poets.