The bishop of the poor
Ambrose of Milan and the wealthy church
Ambrose is not supposed to be bishop of Milan. He is the Roman governor of the region, an unbaptized catechumen, a man of political rather than ecclesiastical training. When the previous bishop dies in 374 AD and the community is on the verge of violent schism between Nicene and Arian factions, a child in the crowd apparently cries out: Ambrose for bishop!
The crowd takes it up. Ambrose flees. He hides in a friend's house. The emperor is petitioned and agrees with the crowd. There is no escape.
He is baptized, ordained through all the minor orders in a week, and consecrated bishop. He immediately gives away his personal fortune to the poor and to the church.
His preaching on wealth is as direct as Chrysostom's. He tells his congregation that the earth belongs to all and the rich have taken more than their share. He does not say this gently. He says it with the precision of a man trained in Roman law who knows exactly what he is accusing.
His most famous act of social theology is administrative: when famine strikes Milan, he melts down the gold and silver vessels of the church to buy food for the starving. His Arian opponents attack him for desecrating sacred objects. He says: The church possesses gold not to store it but to distribute it and relieve those in need. Why not turn it into the ransom of captives?
Ambrose will baptize Augustine in 387 AD. He will force the emperor Theodosius to public penance in 390 AD. He will die in 397 AD asking only that God give him a little more time to finish his commentary on Luke.
“The church possesses gold not to store it but to distribute it, to come to the aid of those in need.”
— Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy II.28, c. 389 AD
“For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to each, according as anyone had need.”
Ambrose melted the gold to feed the hungry. When criticized, he asked what the gold was for if not for people.
This is not a rhetorical question. It is a theology of wealth — a direct line from the incarnation to the communion table to the treasury. The God who gave himself in a body cares about bodies. The church that feeds on his body is called to feed bodies.
The church's assets — its buildings, its endowments, its silver — are not its own. They are held in trust for the purposes of the one who gave them. Ambrose understood this with the clarity of a man who had given away everything he personally owned before he governed anything else.
What does your community hold in trust? And for whom?