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| Of the Church Hymns Instituted at Milan; Of the Ambrosian Persecution Raised by Justina; And of the Discovery of the Bodies of Two Martyrs.
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Chapter VII.—Of the Church Hymns
Instituted at Milan; Of the Ambrosian Persecution Raised by
Justina; And of the Discovery of the Bodies of Two
Martyrs.
15. Not long had the Church of Milan begun to
employ this kind of consolation and exhortation, the brethren
singing together with great earnestness of voice and heart. For it
was about a year, or not much more, since Justina, the mother of
the boy-Emperor Valentinian, persecuted757
| 757 The Bishop of Milan who preceded Ambrose was an
Arian, and though Valentinian the First approved the choice of
Ambrose as bishop, Justina, on his death, greatly troubled the
Church. Ambrose subsequently had great influence over both
Valentinian the Second and his brother Gratian. The persecution
referred to above, says Pusey, was “to induce him to give up to
the Arians a church,—the Portian Basilica without the walls;
afterwards she asked for the new Basilica within the walls, which
was larger.” See Ambrose, Epp. 20–22; Serm. c.
Auxentium de Basilicis Tradendis, pp. 852–880, ed. Bened.;
cf. Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. St. Ambroise, art. 44-48, pp.
76–82. Valentinian was then at Milan. See next sec., the
beginning of note. | Thy servant Ambrose in the interest
of her heresy, to which she had been seduced by the Arians. The
pious people kept guard in the church, prepared to die with their
bishop, Thy servant. There my mother, Thy handmaid, bearing a chief
part of those cares and watchings, lived in prayer. We, still
unmelted by the heat of Thy Spirit, were yet moved by the
astonished and disturbed city. At this time it was instituted that,
after the manner of the Eastern Church, hymns and psalms should be
sung, lest the people should pine away in the tediousness of
sorrow; which custom, retained from then till now, is imitated by
many, yea, by almost all of Thy congregations throughout the rest
of the world.
16. Then didst Thou by a vision make known to
Thy renowned bishop758
the spot where lay the bodies of
Gervasius and Protasius, the martyrs (whom Thou hadst in Thy secret
storehouse preserved uncorrupted for so many years), whence Thou
mightest at the fitting time produce them to repress the feminine
but royal fury. For when they were revealed and dug up and with due
honour transferred to the Ambrosian Basilica, not only they who
were troubled with unclean spirits (the devils confessing
themselves) were healed, but a certain man also, who had been
blind759
| 759 Augustin alludes to this, amongst other supposed
miracles, in his De Civ. Dei, xxii. 8; and again in
Serm. cclxxxvi. sec. 4, where he tells us that the man, after
being cured, made a vow that he would for the remainder of his life
serve in that Basilica where the bodies of the martyrs lay. St.
Ambrose also examines the miracle at great length in one of his
sermons. We have already referred in note 5, p. 69 to the origin of
these false miracles in the early Church. Lecture vi. series 2, of
Blunt’s Lectures on the Right Use of the Early Fathers, is
devoted to an examination of the various passages in the
Ante-Nicene Fathers where the continuance of miracles in the Church
is either expressed or implied. The reader should also refer to the
note on p. 485 of vol. ii. of the City of God, in this
series. | many years,
a well-known citizen of that city, having asked and been told the
reason of the people’s tumultuous joy, rushed forth, asking his
guide to lead him thither. Arrived there, he begged to be permitted
to touch with his handkerchief the bier of Thy saints, whose death
is precious in Thy sight.760
When he had done this, and put it
to his eyes, they were forthwith opened. Thence did the fame
spread; thence did Thy praises burn,—shine; thence was the mind
of that enemy, though not yet enlarged to the wholeness of
believing, restrained from the fury of persecuting. Thanks be to
Thee, O my God. Whence and whither hast Thou thus led my
remembrance, that I should confess these
things also unto Thee,—great,
though I, forgetful, had passed them over? And yet then, when the
“savour” of Thy “ointments” was so fragrant, did we not
“run after Thee.”761
And so I did the more abundantly
weep at the singing of Thy hymns, formerly panting for Thee, and at
last breathing in Thee, as far as the air can play in this house of
grass.
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