St Ambrose

Ambrose was born and raised in the Roman Empire. His father was a very important Roman Govenor (ruler) of a big area of the Roman Empire. His father died when Ambrose was young and his mother and sister decided to move back to Rome. His mother, sister, and brother loved God. His sister was a nun and also became a Saint (St. Marcellina), and they brought Ambrose up to know, love, and serve God, too. Ambrose got a good education and he became a lawyer. Soon after, he became a Governor (ruler) like his father had been; he was the Governor of Milan in Rome (now in Italy). As a lawyer and Governor he was always very gentle, caring, and loving to everyone that he encountered; he was very respected by everyone that he worked with. During this time, the Bishop of Milan was ruling the Catholic Church very badly. He did not like some of the teachings and faith of the Catholic Church and did many things against the teaching of Jesus and the Church. When he died and it was time to elect a new Bishop, there was a lot of fighting among Catholics who wanted to follow the true teaching of the Church and the Catholics that liked how the Bishop had been running Milan. Since Ambrose was a lawyer, he was asked to speak to the people to try and find peace so that they could make a good decision of who to have as Bishop. He did such a great job working with the people that they decided that they wanted HIM to be the new Bishop. Ambrose was shocked, but accepted his calling by God. He gave up everything he owned and gave his whole life to serving the Church. He made sure that the teachings of the Church were true and, because of that, he is called a Doctor of the Church.