St. Ambrose of Milan (BEN 001) Notebook

Here, a seated St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 340-397) is clad in bishop’s garb: mitre, white alb, and cope that is dark violet in colour with a rose-pink lining. His crosier, symbol of his office, leans against a column on his right (our left). A noted preacher and teacher, he is writing. He holds a quill pen in his right hand and balances a book on his knee. On the windowsill behind him sits a beehive, his principal attribute. + His attribute and patronages have an interesting backstory. One day so their origin story goes, the infant St. Ambrose was asleep in his cradle when suddenly a swarm of bees descended upon his face. The bees did not harm him, but rather they left behind a drop of honey on the baby’s lips. His astounded Christian parents took the event as a sign from heaven that their offspring would grow up to be an eloquent, honey-tongued speaker. They weren’t wrong: The child grew to manhood, studied literature, law, and rhetoric, that is, advanced public speaking, entered public life, served as a Roman governor, and eventually became a priest and Bishop of Milan. Small wonder, then, that St. Ambrose is known by the epithet “The Honey Tongued Doctor” and became patron saint of bees, beehives, beekeepers, chandlers or candle makers, and wax refiners or melters! + Incidentally, in Greek mythology, ‘ambrosia’ was the food or drink of the gods that conferred their immortality. Bee bread, the food made from nectar, pollen, and bee saliva that worker bees feed to larvae in the honeycomb cells of hives is also sometimes called ‘ambrosia.’ Some beekeepers believe this synonym perpetuates the name of the Saint. + Feast: December 7 (the anniversary of his ordination rather than of his death) + Image Credit (BEN 001): Antique image of St. Ambrose of Milan from a late 19th-century oleograph, originally published by Benziger, Einsiedeln, Switzerland, from the designer’s private collection of religious ephemera. An oleograph is a special kind of chromolithograph with a shiny or polished coating to make its image more closely resemble an oil painting.