AMBROSE (saint), c. A.D. 340-397, was born at Treves in north central Gaul and died in Milan. He studied law in Rome and was appointed governor of Ligures and Aemilia in A.D. 370. When Bishop Auxentius of Milan died, Ambrose was elected bishop, although he was not a priest, not even baptized. Consecrated in 374, he soon became one of the learned doctors of the church. He baptized Augustine of Hippo in his thirtieth year, while Augustine was in Milan as a teacher of rhetoric in 387. Several hymns of the western church are attributed to him, such as Splendor Paternae, hymns for the offices of Terce, Sext, None, and Te Lucis Ante. The spirits in Purgatory chant the beginning of the last hymn, Purg VIII.13-14. His treatise, De virginitate (On Virginity), was widely read during the Middle Ages (NCE I: 373-375).

The Second Nun says that St. Ambrose is the source for the story of the two crowns in the Legend of St. Cecilia, SNT 271, referring perhaps to the mass for St. Cecilia's Day in the Ambrosian liturgy. The Parson quotes from Pseudo-Ambrose, Sermo XXV.1 in ParsT 84 (PL 17: 677). [Augustin: Cecile]