Life and Times of Ambrose of Milan by Robinson Thornton

Ambrose of MilanRobinson Thornton (1824-1906) was Archdeacon of Middlesex and later a Prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral (see Wikipedia article). This book is a brief biogaphy of Ambrose of Milan, followed by an assessment of his impact on church history.

My thanks to Book Aid for making a copy of this public domain title available for digitisation.

Robinson Thornton [1824-1906], St. Ambrose. his Life, Times and Teaching. The Fathers for English Readers. London: SPCK, 1879. Hbk. pp.215. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  1. Birth and Infancy (A.D. 340-341)
  2. Youth and Manhood (A.D. 341-374)
  3. The Episcopate (A.D. 374)
  4. Difficulties and Dangers (A.D. 374)
  5. Death of Valentinian (A.D. 374-375)
  6. Theodosius (A.D. 378-380)
  7. Synods of Aquileia and Rome (A.D. 380-383)
  8. Augustine (A.D. 383-385)
  9. Conflict with the Arians (A.D. 385-386)
  10. Church-Building – Maximus and Justina (A.D. 386-387)
  11. Theodosius (A.D. 388)
  12. The Sin and Penance of Theodosius (A.D. 389-390)
  13. Eugenius (A.D. 392-393)
  14. Victory and Death (A.D. 394-395)
  15. The End of a Great Life (A.D. 395-397)
  16. Ambrose a Poet and Musician
  17. St. Ambrose as a Theologian
  18. St. Ambrose as an Interpreter of Scripture
  19. Ambrose as a Pastor

Birth and Infancy

It is the year A.D. 340. Twenty-eight years have passed since Constantine the Great saw, as he declared, in vision the symbol of the Crucified, and was bidden to hope for victory, temporal and eternal, through Him alone; twenty-eight years since the tyrant Maxentius lost his power and his life at the Milvian bridge; twenty-seven since Constantine’s second edict, dated not from Rome, but from Milan, released the Christians from the fear of persecution, and launched the Cross on an unimpeded career of conquest. It is fifteen years since the memorable time when the three hundred and eighteen at Nicaea affirmed, in the happy word Consubstantial, the truth of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son, very God of very God, made very man; four since the unhappy heresiarch Arius perished at Constantinople by a strange and sudden death; seven since the busy brain of another enemy of the faith, not heretic, but scoffer, Iamblichus, of Chalcis in Syria…

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