Theodosius, with all his great qualities, was subject to fits of violent passion. A sedition, or rather a popular affray, had taken place in Thessalonica; one of his officers was ill-treated, and some lives lost. Theodosius, in the first moment of indignation, ordered an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, and seven thousand human beings—men, women, and children—were sacrificed. The conduct of Ambrose on this occasion was worthy of a Christian prelate: he retired from the presence of the emperor, and wrote to him a letter, in which, in the name of Christ, of his Church, and of all the bishops over whom he had any influence, he denounced this inhuman act with the strongest expressions of abhorrence, and refused to allow the sovereign, thus stained with innocent blood, to participate in the sacraments of the Church;—in fact, excommunicated him. In vain the emperor threatened, supplicated; in vain he appeared with all his imperial state before the doors of the cathedral of Milan, and commanded and entreated entrance. The doors were closed; and even on Christmas-day, when he again as a suppliant presented himself, Ambrose appeared at the porch, and absolutely forbade his entrance, unless he should choose to pass into the sanctuary over the dead body of the intrepid bishop. At length, after eight months of interdict, Ambrose consented to relent, on two conditions: the first, that the emperor should publish an edict by which no capital punishment could be executed till thirty days after conviction of a crime; the second, that he should perform a public penance. The emperor submitted; and, clothed in sackcloth, grovelling on the earth, with dust and ashes on his head, lay the master of the world before the altar of Christ, because of innocent blood hastily and wrongfully shed. This was a great triumph, and one of incalculable results—some evil, some good.
Another incident in the life of St. Ambrose should be recorded to his honour. In his time, ‘the first blood was judicially shed for religious opinion’—and the first man who suffered for heresy was Priscilian, a noble Spaniard: on this occasion, St. Ambrose and St. Martin of Tours raised their protest in the name of Christianity against this dreadful precedent; but the animosity of the Spanish bishops prevailed, and Priscilian was put to death; so early were bigotry and cruelty the characteristics of the Spanish hierarchy! Ambrose refused to communicate with the few bishops who had countenanced this transaction: the general voice of the Church was against it.
The man who had thus raised himself above all worldly power was endued by popular enthusiasm with supernatural privileges: he performed cures; he saw visions. At the time of the consecration of the new cathedral at Milan, a miraculous dream revealed to him the martyrdom of two holy men, Gervasius and Protasius, and the place where their bodies reposed. The remains were disinterred, conveyed in solemn procession to the cathedral, and deposited beneath the high altar; and St. Gervasius and St. Protasius became, on the faith of a dream, distinguished saints in the Roman calendar. Ambrose died at Milan, in 397, in the attitude and the act of prayer.
There were many poetical legends and apologues relating to St. Ambrose current in the middle ages.
It is related that an obstinate heretic who went to hear him preach, only to confute and mock him, beheld an angel visible at his side, and prompting the words he uttered; on seeing which, the scoffer was of course converted; a subject represented in his church at Milan.
One day, Ambrose went to the prefect Macedonius, to entreat favour for a poor condemned wretch; but the doors were shut against him, and he was refused access. Then he said, ‘Thou, even thou, shalt fly to the church for refuge, and shalt not enter!’ and a short time afterwards, Macedonius, being pursued by his enemies, fled for sanctuary to the church; but, though the doors were wide open, he could not find the entrance, but wandered around in blind perplexity till he was slain. Of this incident I have seen no picture.
On another occasion, St. Ambrose, coming to the house of a nobleman of Tuscany, was hospitably received; and he inquired concerning the state of his host: the nobleman replied, ‘I have never known adversity; every day hath seen me increasing in fortune, in honours, in possessions. I have a numerous family of sons and daughters, who have never cost me a pang of sorrow; I have a multitude of slaves, to whom my word is law; and I have never suffered either sickness or pain.’ Then Ambrose rose hastily from table, and said to his companions, ‘Arise! fly from this roof, ere it fall upon us; for the Lord is not here!’ and scarcely had he left the house, when an earthquake shook the ground, and swallowed up the palace with all its inhabitants. I have seen this story in a miniature, but cannot at this moment refer to it.
St. Ambrose falls asleep, or into a trance, while celebrating mass, and sees in the spirit the obsequies of St. Martin of Tours: the sacristan strikes him on the shoulder to wake him. This is the subject of a very old mosaic in his church at Milan.
When St. Ambrose was on his death-bed, Christ visited him and comforted him; Honorat, bishop of Vercelli, was then in attendance on him, and having gone to sleep, an angel waked him, saying, ‘Arise, for he departs in this hour;’ and Honorat was just in time to administer the sacrament and see him expire. Others who were present beheld him ascend to heaven, borne in the arms of angels.