ABSTRACT
Ambrose (AD 337/8-97) was bishop of Milan from 374-97, and, among bishops, he is reckoned as one of the most renowned? As father of the Church he ranks with Augustine, Jerome and Chrysostom. Ambrose is legendary above all for standing up to Roman emperors, for speaking out for what he thought right to the most powerful men in the world. His most celebrated action was to make the emperor Theodosius, who had just been victorious in a civil war, do penance for a massacre of civilians that he had ordered at Thessalonica in Greece. But this was only one of a number of such episodes. So Ambrose exemplified the role of the Church as the moral conscience of society, with a duty to proclaim Christian values, and to condemn wickedness not only of individuals, but also of rulers and governments, no matter how powerful and dangerous.
