Theological and Dogmatic Works

Introduction

INTRODUCTION ~ T' AMBROSE'S WORK, The Sacraments, has been regarded by many, notably by H. Dudden, as not of Ambrosian origin. Recently, its authenticity has been stoutly defended, among others, by J. R. Palanque, and most recently by Otto Faller, S. J., in the prologomena of Volume 73 of the CSEL (Vienna 1955). The Sacraments is a work in six books, consisting of six short addresses delivered by a bishop to the newly baptized, on six successive days, from Tuesday of Easter week through the following Sunday. In content it is very similar to The Mysteries, but it is in general a more detailed presentation. Among other illustrations we cite the more exact description of the rites of baptism and the fuller account of the Eucharist. Moreover, The Sacraments contains a very interesting exposition of the Lord's Prayer and a discussion of the parts of prayer which are entirely lacking in The Mysteries. Fr. Faller's chief arguments in favor of St. Ambrose's authorship of The Sacraments are as follows: 1. All the manuscripts in which the name of the author is 265 266 SAINT AMBROSE given, including all the very ancient ones, with the exception of Sangallensis 188, which includes a collection of sermons of various authors, are obviously falsely handed down under the name of Augustine, show no other name than that of Ambrose. This agreement of manuscripts of diverse sources cannot be explained except by the conclusion that their archetypes written no later than the seventh century all agreed in this fact. 2. All mediaeval writers of the earlier centuries without exception agree on St. Ambrose as the author of The Sacraments . The unanimity of the evidence cited above cannot be contra :dicted without the very strongest arguments. 3. An argument on the basis of style has been raised against the authenticity of this work. This is very weak, since it is obvious that these sermons are the notes taken down by shorthand written as Ambrose delivered them to the recently baptized and transcribed and published after Ambrose's death. They were never transcribed and polished by Ambrose himself , as was the case with his other sermons. They remain in the very simple language of Ambrose's instructions. Ambrose himself never intended. to publish these sermons which were delivered before he wrote T he Mysteries, but from these Ambrose composed and published The Mysteries. 4. Some claim the practice of the washing of the feet, a custom contrary to that of the church in Rome, as an indication of non-Ambrosian authorship, whereas it is a proof of the very opposite. From the year 381, in which St. Ambrose wrote the prologue of De Spiritu Sancto, until his last work, Explanatio Psalmorum XII, he repeatedly explains and defends this very rite in Milan. 5. These sermons were definitely written in the fourth THE SACRAMENTS: I 267 century and at Milan, for the greater number of the baptized were adults, whereas in the fifth century, when the churches were fighting Pelagianism, the baptizing of infants prevailed. Besides, the listeners live among pagans (inter gentiles), who up to that time dominate public life. None of the Christian sects except Arianism is mentioned, although the speaker depicts the dangers of their age in vivid colors. In The Sacraments the same rite of nox paschalis is treated as is discussed in T he Mysteries, and this is Milanese. 6. Although certain familiar Ambrosian expressions are lacking, a great many of them are present. (Fr. Faller lists them at great length on pp. 25-26). Fr. Faller sums up his view of the matter by saying: 'He who knows Ambrose, after a more careful reading of the work On the Sacraments, cannot do otherwise than find Ambrose in every corner, if I may say so, of its manner of speech.' Although indications generally in The Mysteries and The Sacraments point to 390 or 391 as the date of composition, it is quite certain that both works were written before the year 392, that is, before the composition of De institutione virgtnis ad Eusebium, in which (5.39) is contained a certain imitation of a passage (7.36) of the De mysteriis. ...