December 7
Happy Saint Ambrose day!
There’s a legend that when Saint Ambrose was a baby, a swarm of bees landed on his face and then left the baby uninjured, leaving behind only a drop of honey. His father said that he believed it was a sign that his son would grow up to be a great speaker (I’m sure he said this after changing his drawers because a swarm of bees had just landed on his son’s face! )
Saint Ambrose did grow up to become a wonderful speaker and was eventually made Bishop of Milan. He was such an amazing speaker, in fact, that he was the guy that finally brought Saint Augustine into the church forever rendering himself as no longer “one of the original doctors of the church” or “an amazing speaker” or “A defender of the church against Arianism” or “this guy was pretty incredible in his own right”. Instead, his name would always include the qualifier, “the guy that brought Saint Augustine into the church.” Seriously. Any time I’ve ever seen a passage of his work, a quote or anything in any way talking about Saint Ambrose, it always has, “Saint Ambrose was instrumental in bringing Saint Augustine into the church.”
He is the patron saint of beekeepers (because of the bee story) and beggars (because he was known to be very generous towards them) and Milan (because that was his town). If you’d like this print on wood, click here.
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