The public veneration of relics grew in importance and geographic scope during the last decades of the fourth and first decades of the fifth century, particularly under the impetus provided by Ambrose.
Ambrose obtained the bones of Gervasius and Protasius, who had died for the Christian faith. He placed them in a grave under the altar of his principal church in Milan.
In this is seen the associating of the altar (the table of sacrifice) with relics of the martyrs (who lay down their lives in sacrifice).
The practice was inspired in at least part by the following passage from the New Testament: "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." (Apocalypse 6:9)
In the year 401 the Council of Carthage declared that all altars should contain relics, a canon that was often repeated elsewhere at councils in later centuries.
This articulates the meaning of the altar as a tomb both for the saint whose relics are contained in it, but also symbolically for Christ.
A "Life of Ambrose" was written soon after the death of Ambrose. Its author was Paulinus, his former secretary.
He is listed as one of the eight great Doctors of the early Church (Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, and Gregory of Nazianzus).
In comparison with the two of these great men of the early Western (Latin) Church with whom Augustine had contact, Augustine was more profound than Ambrose of Milan, his spiritual father.
And he was more original and systematic than Jerome, the Biblical translator of the Bible with whom Augustine exchanged letters.
The feast day of Ambrose is celebrated on 7th December each year, which was the date of his ordination.
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Ambrosio. (This web page was written in the Spanish language.) Muchas personas influyeron en la conversión de Agustín; especial mención merece San Ambrosio, obispo de Milán. Su influencia no estuvo tanto en un contacto personal, cuanto en su predicación , que lo llevó a descubrir cuán diferente era la fe cristiana de lo imaginado por él. Ambrosio con sus sermones le enseñó a interpretar los textos bíblicos, y a meterle algunas ideas totalmente nuevas: "Me di cuenta, con frecuencia, al oír predicar a nuestro obispo… que cuando pensamos en Dios o el alma, que es lo más cercano a Dios en el mundo, nuestros pensamientos no captan nada material ".
