days many dispossessed at his command, and by the laying A. D. 396. 66 on of his hands." 1 Nicentius', formerly a tribune and notary, had such pains 1 Ibid. § 44. in his feet, that he was hardly ever able to go abroad. Once when he drew near the Altar to receive the Holy Sacrament, St. Ambrose by chance trod upon his foot, at which he cried out; but he said to him, "Go, henceforth thou shalt be "healed.” And accordingly at the time of this saintly Bishop's death, he declared with tears, that he had never felt any pain from that day. 2 2 Ibid. § 42. [3 Ps. 44. Heb.] A few days before St. Ambrose was confined to his bed, as he was dictating the explanation of the forty-third3 Psalm, Paulinus, who wrote for him, beheld, on a sudden, a flame in the shape of a small shield, which covered his head, and by degrees entered into his mouth. His countenance became white as the snow, and then returned to its usual appearance. "I was so terrified," adds Paulinus, "that I remained with"out motion, and could not write what he dictated till the "vision was over. He was then repeating a passage of Scrip"ture, which I well remember; and on that day he left off "both writing and dictating; he could not finish the Psalm " he was explaining. I immediately related what I had seen "to the deacon Castus, under whose government I was; and "he shewed me from the Acts of the Apostles, that I had seen the HOLY GHOST descend upon the holy Bishop." We have this exposition of St. Ambrose upon the forty-third Psalm, which does in fact end at the twenty-third verse; and nothing is said on the two last. He must already have found himself unwell; for Paulinus' assures us, that when he was ' § 38. in health, he never spared himself the trouble of writing his books with his own hand. And St. Ambrose himself says, that Ep. 47. al. he did not always dictate, especially in the night-time, that he might not incommode any one, might consider better what he wrote, and make his style more correct. 4 5 6 65. ad Sab. Paulinus adds, "He took great care of all the Churches". Paul.§ 38. "He was constant at prayer day and night; he slept little, "and fasted every day, except on the Sabbath and Sunday [and the festivals of the most celebrated martyrs], on "which days only, he dined." At Milan, it was not the custom to fast on Saturdays, even in Lent; when, however, he 66 S. Aug. 86. ad Casul. in A. D. 396. was at Rome, or in any other place, where it was usual to fast on the Sabbath, he did the same as the rest; making it a rule to observe in this respect the custom of the place where Ep. 36. al. he happened to be'. He sometimes entertained the greatest men of the empire, the Consuls and the Præfects, who con*Sulp. Sev. sidered it an honour, as we see in the case of Arbogastes' and Dial. 1. c. Vincentius, Præfect of Gaul. But he never went out to eat 1. p. 94.1 with any one, though invited, all the while he was at Milan. $30. It was also a maxim' with him, never to be concerned in any Vit. S. Aug. marriage, nor to procure a place at court for any person, lest he should make himself answerable for the consequences. fin. 17.[25.tom. 3 Paul. Vit. Possid. c. 27. [p. 276. A.] XXI. After having ordained a Bishop of Pavia, he was taken ill, Death of St. Am- and was confined to his bed a long time; on which Count brose. Stilicho said, that the death of so great a man threatened [A.D.397.] Paul. Vit. Italy with ruin. He therefore sent for some of the most $ 44. considerable persons of Milan, whom he knew to be most beloved by the holy Bishop, and obliged them, partly by entreaties and partly by menaces, to go and press him to beg of God to prolong his life. As they stood about his bed, and entreated him with tears to comply with their request, he answered: "I have not lived with you so as to be ashamed "to live, neither am I afraid to die, for we have a good "Master." He lay in a gallery', at the end of which were four deacons, Castus, Polemius, Venerius, and Felix, discoursing together who should succeed him in the Bishopric. They spoke so low, that they could hardly hear each other. They named Simplician, and St. Ambrose, though at that distance, approving their choice, as if he had been present at their conversation, cried out three times, "An old man, but a good one." They were so alarmed at hearing him speak thus, that they fled out of the place. Simplician did in fact succeed him, and after him Venerius. Once as St. Ambrose 6 $ 46. was praying (in the same place) he beheld the LORD JESUS coming towards him and smiling upon him. This he told Bassianus, Bishop of Lodi, who was praying with him, and by whom Paulinus says he was himself informed. St. Ambrose died a few days after. He continued in prayer from the eleventh hour of the day, that is, from five in the afternoon till the time that he expired, which was soon after midnight. He prayed with his hands extended in form of a cross, moving his lips, but what he said could not be collected. Honoratus A. D. 397. Bishop of Vercellæ, having lain down to take a little rest in an upper part of the house, heard a voice calling him three times by name, and saying, "Rise quickly, he is ready to "depart." He went down, and gave the Saint the Body of the LORD, which having received and swallowed, he gave up the ghost'. This happened on the night before Holy Satur- [bonum day, the fourth of April', A. D. 397, in the Consulship of secum Cæsarius and Atticus3. St. Ambrose was at least fifty-seven Martyrol. ferens.] years old, and had been Bishop twenty-two years and four Rom. 9 Pagi. an. months. 397. § 6. 2 4 Viaticum 48. Paul. § At the same hour', which was before day-break, his body was borne to the Great Church, where it remained the following night, which was Easter-eve. Many children who were baptized that night, saw him as they came out of the fonts; some said he was seated on his episcopal throne in the church; others, that he was walking, and pointed with their finger to shew him to their parents, but they [because they had not cleansed eyes] could not see him. Many, however, asserted that they had seen a star over his body. On Easter Sunday, as soon as it was light, after the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, they took up his body to carry it to the Basilica Ambrosiana, where it was interred. Here a number of unholy spirits expressed their rage by dreadful cries; and many such cries to his glory were heard, in different provinces, and for many years. The people threw their handkerchiefs that they might touch his body; for [ oraria there was at his funeral an immense number of all ages, cinctia] sexes, and conditions, not only of Christians, but also of Jews and Pagans, but the newly baptized shone pre-eminently, and took precedence of all. On the same day that he died, he appeared in the East to certain holy persons, praying with them, and laying his hands upon them. This was known, some time after, at Milan, by a letter directed to him as though alive, and dated on the day of his death. It was • § 49. received by Simplician his successor, and preserved with great care. St. Ambrose appeared also' at Florence to some, § 50. whom he had promised to visit often, at their earnest desire. He was frequently seen praying before the altar of the Ambrosian Basilica, which he had built in that city. Paulinus 5 vel semi G 7 A. D. 397. relates this on the testimony of St. Zenobius, Bishop of Florence, in the Life of St. Ambrose which he wrote some years after, at the desire of St. Augustine', either from what he knew himself as an eye-witness, or had heard from the mouth of St. Marcellina, St. Ambrose's sister, or from other persons of undoubted credit. 1 § 1, 56. XXII. The Martyrs of Anaunia. 2 Ap. Ruinart. Acta Mart. Sin cer. p. 684. [609.] p. 690. [614.] 3 St. Simplician had not been long Bishop, before he received a letter from Vigilius, Bishop of Trent, containing an account of the martyrdom of three Ecclesiastics, whom the barbarians of the neighbouring mountains had put to death, namely, Sisinnius a Deacon, Martyrius a Reader, and Alexander, a door-keeper. Sisinnius was a Greek or Cappadocian, of a noble family, and of great age. He was the first that preached the Gospel to these barbarians, and notwithstanding his poverty, built a church among them at his own ex[ p. 609.] pense. Martyrius' having quitted his military profession, and the society of his relations, received baptism, and was afterwards ordained Reader, and from him first, these barbarians heard sung the praises of GOD. He was continually intent on spiritual works, and worn with fasting. Alexander was his brother. They all three observed continence. The place where Sisinnius preached the Gospel, was called Anagnia or Anaunia, twenty-five stades, or three miles from Trent, in the defiles of the mountains. They long endured the insults of the barbarians, and at length suffered martyrdom on the following occasion. The Pagans, at the latter end of Vid. Ba- May, made their profane processions about their lands, preA. D. 400. tending to purify them and obtain the blessing of their gods upon their seed. They wore chaplets, sang hymns, and led in procession the victims they intended to sacrifice. When they attempted also to force one of the newly converted Christians to furnish victims, they were opposed by Sisinnius, who was dangerously wounded. The next morning as soon as it was day, the barbarians, armed with clubs, hatchets, and the like instruments, came on a sudden to the church, where [ Levitis] they found certain Clerks chaunting the morning hymn : they pillaged and polluted every place, profaned the Holy Mysteries, and pulled down the church. The Deacon Sisinnius was confined to his bed, in consequence of his wounds; they pressed him again to consent to their sacrifices, struck him ron. Annal. tom. 5. p. 101. 6 on the head with the trumpet, which they sounded in their A. D. 397. profane ceremonies, and killed him with their hatchets. Martyrius was with him, dressing his wounds, and giving him a draught of water to refresh him, as he was drawing towards his departure. He retreated to a garden adjoining the church, and was discovered by a maid to whom the garden belonged. The barbarians having taken him, wounded him in the head, and pierced him with staves sharpened at the end; as they were leading him to the idol, he expired. The Pagans sought diligently for Alexander, who was well known, having always kept the door of the church. They took him in his house, and tied him between the bodies of the other two Martyrs. They fastened a bell to the neck of St. Sisinnius, like that which is hung on the neck of beasts; and as they insulted the body upbraided CHRIST with not avenging him. Alexander was tied alive by the feet between the two dead bodies; and in this manner they dragged him over rugged ways to the temple of Saturn, where they raised a large pile with the timber of the church they had pulled down. There they burnt the two bodies before him, bidding him sacrifice, if he would escape being cast into the fire. He refused with constancy and he suffered. A great number of Christians were present at the sight; but the Pagans were satisfied with reviling them. These three Saints suffered martyrdom on Friday' the twenty-ninth of May, and conse- [1 p. 615.] quently A.D. 397, in which year the Dominical or Sunday letter is D. 2 S. Aug. Ep. 139. al. 19 Marcel. § 2. [tom. 2. p. The murderers of the Martyrs were taken; and they would have been brought to justice, had not the Christians petitioned the Emperor for their pardon, who readily granted it, that he might not dishonour the Martyrs' death. Their relics were brought to Milan, and it is probably with them that St. Vigilius sent the letter to St. Simplician which is now extant. 420.] At the same time there was at Milan a blind man3, who Paulin. came from the coast of Dalmatia, and recovered his sight by touching the chest in which the relics were laid. He affirmed, that in the night he had seen, in a vision, a vessel draw near the shore in which was a number of persons clad in white; that, as they landed, he enquired of one of them who they were; and was told, that they were Ambrose and his com $ 52. |