[called above, the New Basi 3 lica.] ix. 7. 22. 8. A. D. 386. still called the Church of St. Ambrose [the Greater] from him; the people with one voice desired him to dedicate it like the Basilica Romana', another church in Milan near the Roman gate, which he had lately consecrated in honour of the Apostles. St. Ambrose replied: "I will do so, if I "find any relics of martyrs," and immediately his heart burned within him, in presage, as he felt, of what was to Confess. happen. Indeed [according to St. Augustine'], God reDe Civitat. vealed to him in a dream, that the bodies of St. Gervasius 3 and St. Protasius, were in the Basilica of St. Felix and [to.7.p.663.] [now of St. Nabor'. Notwithstanding the apprehensions of his Clergy, St. Francis.] he caused the ground to be opened before the rails that surrounded the sepulchres of the martyrs. He found probable signs; perhaps palm-leaves engraved, or some instrument of their torture. He caused certain that were possessed to be sent for, in order to lay hands on them, but before he had begun to speak, one of them, a woman, was seized with an evil spirit, and stretched upon the ground in the place where the martyrs, whom they were seeking, lay. Having discovered their sepulchres, two skeletons were discovered, of more than ordinary size, all their bones entire, a quantity of S. Ambr. blood about, and their heads separated from their bodies. They arranged the bodies, putting every bone into its proper Ep. 22. 12. Vitalis and place, and they covered them with cloths, and laid them on litters. In this manner were they carried towards evening to [Snow of St. the Basilica of St. Fausta', where vigils were celebrated all St. Agri- night, and several that were possessed received imposition of cola.] hands. That day and the next there was a great concourse of people, and then, the old men recollected that they had formerly heard the names of these martyrs, and had read the inscription on their tomb. The next day the relics were transferred to the Basilica Ambrosiana. There was at Milan a blind man named Severus, well known in the place, who, having become blind several years before, had been obliged to give up his trade, which had been that of a butcher. This man, hearing the joyful shoutings in the streets, asked the St. Felix and St. Nabor were martyrs of Milan (S. Ambros. in Luc. vii. § 178. tom. i. p. 1453), supposed to have suffered under Maximian. Martyr. July 12. St. Vitalis and St. Agricola, martyrs at Bononia, now Bologna, (S. Ambros. Exhort. ad Virgin. c. 1.) possibly, under Diocletian and Maximian. reason, and being told, he rose up hastily, and caused himself A. D. 386. to be led to the bodies of the Saints. When he was come thither, they let him approach so near as to touch the bier on which they lay with a handkerchief. As soon as he had Confess.ix. de divers. c. 5. De Civit. applied the handkerchief to his eyes, they were opened, and he returned without any one to lead him. This miracle was S. Aug. performed before a vast number of people, and among the 7. Serm. rest in the presence of St. Augustine, who was then at Milan, 286.(al.39.) and who bears his testimony to it in three separate passages in his works. Severus having thus recovered his sight, 22. 8. § 2. devoted it for the future wholly to God, and spent the rest of his life in serving in the Basilica Ambrosiana, where the bodies of the martyrs lay. He was still alive when Paulinus wrote the life of St. Ambrose. This translation was attended by a great many other miracles: persons possessed were delivered, sick persons were healed, by touching with their hands the cloths that covered the Saints, and some merely by their shadow. A great number of handkerchiefs' and gar- 1 [oraria.] ments were cast upon the holy relics, and preserved as remedies against diseases. It is St. Ambrose himself who bears testimony to this in one of his sermons, which he made upon this Ep.22.§ 9. occasion. 人 1 [See above ch. 2.] &c. For after the holy relics were brought to the Basilica Ambrosiana, he spoke to the people upon this occasion of Ep. 22. 3, 4, public joy and these miracles, making use of the eighteenth [Ps. 19.] and hundred and twelfth Psalms, which had just been read. [Ps. 113.] He returns thanks to Christ for having given such relief to His Church, at a time when she stood so much in need of it; and declares that he desires no other defence. He afterwards says: "Let us bring these victorious victims to the spot "where is Christ the sacrifice. But He, Who hath suffered "for all, upon the altar, and they, whom He hath purchased by His passion, beneath it. It is the place which I had designed for myself, for it is fitting that the Priest repose "where he hath been accustomed to offer; but I yield the "right side to these sacred victims." He wished to bury the § 13. relics immediately, but the people desired clamorously to have that ceremony, which was called the depositing, deferred until Sunday. At last St. Ambrose prevailed with them to § 14. let it be performed the next day. He then made a second § 15, &c. A. D. 386. sermon, the chief subject of which was a reply to the calumnies of the Arians. For although these miracles put a stop to the violence of the persecution without, the court of Justina Paulin. Vit. made a jest of them in the palace. They said that Ambrose $ 15. had suborned people by money to pretend to be possessed, and they denied that the bodies which were found were really those of martyrs. St. Ambrose answers them by the evidence of the facts, of which all the people were witnesses, and insists chiefly upon the miracle of the blind man. "I Ep. 22. § 19. "desire to know," he adds, "what is it that they do not "believe? Is it that martyrs have power to afford assist"ance? This is to disbelieve Christ, for He hath said, 'Ye "shall do greater things than these.' What then is the object "of their envy? is it I? but it is not I who work miracles. "Is it the martyrs? they therefore shew that the Faith of "the martyrs was different from theirs; otherwise they "would not be jealous of their miracles." These are the words of St. Ambrose. St. John 14. 12. Ep. 22. scr. to. ii. p. 874. * Paulin. § 17. He wrote to his sister Marcellina, an account of the A. D. 386. discovery and translation of these holy martyrs, and joins with this letter the two sermons which he made upon the occasion. In order to confound the Arians the more, a man from amongst the multitude was suddenly seized with an unPaulin. Vit. clean spirit, and began to cry out, "That those were tor$ 16. "mented like him who denied the martyrs, or who did not "believe the Unity of the Trinity, which Ambrose taught;" [Piscina, whereupon the Arians took him and drowned him in a canal'. fish-pond. One of those who were the most violent in disputing, and the most hardened, testified that while in the church, when St. Ambrose was preaching, he had seen an Angel whisper in his ear, so that he only seemed to report to the people the words of the Angel. The Arian who had this vision was converted, and began to defend the faith which he had opposed. Thus were the Arians put to silence by the force of miracles, and the Empress obliged to let St. Ambrose remain at peace. Perhaps her apprehensions of the Emperor Maximus might contribute somewhat towards this result. For he wrote a letter to the Emperor Valentinian, exhorting him to put a stop to the persecution. He represented to him, that had he not been desirous of maintaining peace with him, he should Conc. II. p. 1031. [III. p.673. Mans.] Theod.5.14. not have given him such advice, because these divisions A. D. 386. would be for his advantage. He represented to him the danger of changing the Faith, which hath been settled so many ages. "All Italy," says he, "Africa, Gaul, Aquitaine, " and all Spain believe thus, and venerable Rome herself, which "holds' the first rank, in this particular too," i.e. in religion as '[cujus well as in the Empire. At length St. Ambrose and the Catholic hac parte Bishops were suffered to remain unmolested. etiam in principatus est.] Beginning gustine's history. Vita S. tore Possid. 4 xi. His [Signabar signo 6 St. Augustine had now been two years at Milan, where he XLVIII. was an eye-witness of the miracles and struggles of St. Am- of St. Aubrose, and he was converted soon after. He was an African, born' on the thirteenth of November in the year 354, at 'Pagi. A.D. 377. § 3. Thagaste, an Episcopal city of Numidia; his parents were Christians, and of no mean condition, his father's name was Aug. aucPatricius, and his mother's Monnica. They were very careful for ossi [A.D.430.] to have him instructed in human learning, and every one § 1. observed in him an excellent genius, and a wonderful disposition for knowledge. Falling sick in his infancy, and being Confess. 1. in danger of death, he desired Baptism, having been already made a Catechumen by salt and the sign of the Cross'. mother, being alarmed, got every thing ready for his receiving crucis et Baptism, but he grew better suddenly, and it was deferred. condiebar ejus sale.] He first studied grammar and rhetoric at Madaura, until he • Confess. was sixteen years old, when his father made him return to Thagaste, and kept him there a year. Meanwhile he made preparations for sending his son to finish his studies at Carthage, for the great desire which he had of making his son a scholar, made him strive even beyond his circumstances. Whilst he thus stayed at Thagaste, the young Augustine, slighting the good advice of his mother, began to indulge in a licentious course, led to it by idleness and the indulgence of his father, who had not yet received Baptism, though he was baptized before his death, which happened soon after. Augustine coming to Carthage plunged himself still more Confess. 3. and more into licentiousness, which he increased by frequenting the public theatres. He prayed indeed to God for the spirit of chastity, "Give me chastity and continence, but not 8. c. 7. See Bingham, x. 1. 3.-The salt was expressive of the purity necessary in a Christian. See S. August. de Catechiz. Rudib. c. 26. § 50. tom. vi. 2. 3. c. l. A. D. 386. "at once." He feared that he should be heard too soon, and wished that his prayers might not yet be heard. In the mean time he made great progress in his studies, the design of which was to raise him to the magistracy and public offices, for oratory was then the way to such distinctions. Among 3. c. 4. the works of Cicero which he studied, he read The Hortensius, XLIX. Augustine which is now lost, and which was an exhortation to philosophy. He was affected by it, and began at that time, though only nineteen years of age, to slight the vanity of worldly expectations, and to desire wisdom and immortal goods; and this was the first step towards his conversion. The only thing that displeased him in the Philosophers becomes a was, that he did not find in them the name of CHRIST, which Manichee. he had sucked in, as it were, with his mother's milk, and which had made a deep impression upon his heart; he c. 5. desired therefore to see the holy Scriptures, but the simplicity c. 6. of the style displeased him. He then fell into the hands of the Manichees, who, always speaking of CHRIST, of the HOLY GHOST, and of Truth, seduced him by their inflated discourses, and inspired him with an inclination for their dreams, and an aversion for the Old Testament. In the mean time c. 1. his mother, who was more concerned than if she had seen him dead, would no longer eat with him. She was, however, comforted by a dream. She imagined herself standing upon a piece of timber, and that she saw a shining youth, who came to her with a smiling countenance, asking her the cause of her grief; she answered, that she was lamenting the loss of her son. "Behold," he said to her, "he is with you;" and when she looked, she saw him standing with her upon the same piece of timber. She told this dream to Augustine, who said to her, "The meaning is, that you will become what "I am." But she replied without hesitation, "No! For it was not said, Thou shalt be where he is, but he shall be where "thou art." And from that time she lived and eat with him as formerly. c. 12. She then applied to a holy Bishop, and besought him to speak with her son. The Bishop replied: "He is as yet “unteachable, and much puffed up with that heresy which is "new to him. Let him alone, and be satisfied with praying "for him; he will then find out, by reading, what this error |