Editing Ambrose (section)

=== Early life ===
[[File:Altare di s. ambrogio, 824-859 ca., retro di vuolvino, storie di sant'ambrogio 06 miracolo delle api.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Relief]] by {{ill|Vuolvino|it}} depicting Ambrose as a child while bees swarm his crib. His father is on the right of the image while the sky has three clouds "sending forth flames".{{sfn|Paredi|1964|pp=442–443}} The relief is from the [[Altar of Sant'Ambrogio]] in the [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio]].]]

Ambrose was born into a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Christians|Christian]] family, of [[Greeks|Greek]] descent,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramsey |first=Boniface |url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=DM9tPXQTRBEC&pg=PA18 |title=Ambrose |date=1997 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-11841-5 |series=Early Church Fathers |pages=18 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Boucheron |first=Patrick |url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=2NLdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |title=Trace and Aura: The Recurring Lives of St. Ambrose of Milan |date=2022 |publisher=Other Press, LLC |isbn=978-1-63542-007-4 |pages=37 |language=en}}</ref> in the year 339.{{sfn|Cvetković |2019|p=44}} Ambrose himself wrote that he was 53 years old in his letter number 49, which has been dated to 392. He began life in Augusta Treverorum (modern [[Trier]]) the capital of the Roman province of [[Gallia Belgica]] in what was then northeastern [[Gaul]] and is now in the [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] in Germany.{{sfn|Loughlin|1907}} Scholars disagree on who exactly his father was. His father is sometimes identified with Aurelius Ambrosius,{{sfn|Greenslade|1956|p=175}}{{efn|"S. Paulinus in ''Vit. Ambr. 3'' has the following: ''posito in administratione prefecture Galliarum patre eius Ambrosio natus est Ambrosius''. From this, practically all of Ambrose's biographers have concluded that Ambrose's father was a praetorian prefect in Gaul. This is the only evidence we have, however, that there ever was an Ambrose as prefect in Gaul."{{sfn|Paredi|1964|p=380}}}} a [[Praetorian prefecture of Gaul|praetorian prefect of Gaul]];{{Sfn | Attwater | John | 1993}} but some scholars identify his father as an official named Uranius who received an [[Constitution (Roman law)|imperial constitution]] dated 3 February 339 (addressed in a brief extract from one of the three emperors ruling in 339, [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]], [[Constantius II]], or [[Constans]], in the ''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'', book XI.5).{{sfn|Barnes|2011|pp=45–46}}{{sfn|Cvetković |2019|p= 44–46}} What does seem certain is that Ambrose was born in Trier and his father was either the praetorian prefect or part of his administration.{{sfn|Cvetković |2019|p= 46}}

A legend about Ambrose as an infant recounts that a swarm of [[bee]]s settled on his face while he lay in his cradle, leaving behind a drop of honey.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=van der Nat |first1=P. G. |last2=Hamman |first2=Adalberto |date=March 1971 |title=Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Latina. Supplementum, Volumen IV |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1583516 |journal=Vigiliae Christianae |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=76 |doi=10.2307/1583516 |jstor=1583516 |issn=0042-6032}}</ref> His father is said to have considered this a [[Christian symbolism|sign]] of his future eloquence and honeyed tongue. Bees and [[beehive]]s often appear in the [[saint symbolism|saint's symbology]].{{sfn|Thornton|1879|p=15}}

Ambrose's mother was a woman of intellect and piety.{{sfn|Grieve|1911|p=798}} It was probable that she was a member of the Roman family ''Aurelii Symmachi'',{{sfn|Barnes|2011|p=50}} which would make Ambrose a cousin of the orator [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus]].{{sfn|Cvetković |2019|p=55–57}} The family had produced one martyr (the virgin [[Soteris]]) in its history.{{sfn|Cvetković |2019|p=52}} Ambrose was the youngest of three children. His siblings were [[Satyrus of Milan|Satyrus]], the subject of Ambrose's ''De excessu fratris Satyri'',<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90298 | title = Santi Beati | place = Italy | language = it}}</ref> and [[Saint Marcellina|Marcellina]], who made a [[Consecrated virgin|profession of virginity]] sometime between 352 and 355; [[Pope Liberius]] himself conferred the veil upon her.{{sfn|Mediolanensis|2005|p=6}} Both Ambrose's siblings also became venerated as saints.

Sometime early in the life of Ambrose, his father died. At an unknown later date, his mother left Trier with her three children, and the family moved to Rome.{{sfn|Cvetković |2019|p=49}}<ref>{{CE1913 |inline=1 |last=Loughlin |first=James Francis |wstitle=St. Ambrose |volume=1 |ref=none}}</ref> There Ambrose studied [[literature]], [[law]], and [[rhetoric]].{{sfn|Cvetković |2019|p= 52}} He then followed in his father's footsteps and entered public service. [[Praetorian prefecture of Italy|Praetorian Prefect]] [[Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus]] first gave him a place as a judicial councillor,<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = McSherry
 |first1               = James
 |title                = Outreach and Renewal: A First-millennium Legacy for the Third-millennium Church
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=pGDQ_OKdtDgC
 |series               = Cistercian studies series, 236
 |year = 2011
 |location             = Collegeville, Minnesota
 |publisher            = Liturgical Press
 |publication-date     = 2011
 |page                 = 19
 |isbn                 = 9780879072360
 |quote                = An accomplished orator and legal advocate, Ambrose was appointed to the Judicial Council by Probus, Praetorian Prefect of Italy. 
}} 
</ref> and then in about 372 made him [[Roman governor|governor]] of the [[Roman province|province]] of [[Liguria (Roman province)|Liguria]] and [[Aemilia (Roman province)|Emilia]], with headquarters in Milan.{{Sfn | Attwater | John | 1993 | p=37}}{{sfn|Sparavigna|2016|p=2}}{{failed verification |date=July 2024 |reason=Neither Liguria, Aemilia, or Ambrose' governorship, let alone in 372, are mentioned on p 2}}