Abstract
To study the sermons of Ambrose after those of Cicero appears to thwart the very purpose of this piece of work. If we are to Judge by the criticism of many modern writers, Ambrose is far from classical and not to be compared with the writers of pagan times. However, considering the matter from a Catholic viewpoint, much is to be said in favor of offering to our Catholic students a study of some works of the great Bishop of Milan and of his times. |An introduction, through a reading acquaintance with a great historical character and holy ecclesiastic, to the earliest centuries of the Church, brief though it must be, is worth the time taken from a continuous study of the pagan authors ordinarily read by a third year Latin class. As the seat of Roman government in the West was transferred to the city of Milan, so, too, may our interest be turned from the pure Latin of the Golden and Silver Ages to the language spoken and written by members of the young, but powerful, Church. That new Latin with its simpler forms and new words as spoken by the early Fathers will surely be of great interest to Catholics, whose Church alone today uses Latin in its ceremonies.