Life of St. Ambrose

The full extent of the pastoral project of Ambrose is depicted in four episodes. The scenes are developed on a double row, each comprising six sections.

The buildings in the background lend the scene an imposing and wide-ranging aspect.

Starting from the bottom, the first episode is the Baptism of Saint Augustine, which Ambrose gave him on the night of Easter in 387.

The costumes and clothes of the time are featured with great precision, nothing is left to chance in the reconstruction of such a far-off time restored through the shapes and styles of Romanticism.

Continuing up, the yellow texture of a carpet ideally leads our eyes to the second scene.

St. Ambrose, with the pastoral staff in his left hand, is preaching to the community, while the vast audience listens on. The many nuances of the human soul shine through in the faces of the onlookers.

"Docet gregem": with the power of his episcopal teachings, the full extent of his preaching, Saint Ambrose, patron saint of Milan, guides his flock.

A little further up, there is the most tense episode: the Meeting between Ambrose and the Emperor Theodosius.

Theodosius was the emperor of the East who squashed the revolt of many citizens in Thessalonica (today the Greek port city of Thessaloniki) in bloodshed. Ambrose could not remain impassive to such an atrocity.

During the famous meeting, the Saint forbade the emperor from entering the Church, and admonished him. He was a sinner and like anyone else, he had to repent.

"Him whom you have followed in sinning, follow also in his repentance." He was ordered to do penance, or else he would not be allowed to enter the Basilica.

In the last records of the window, tiles, and candles made with painstaking detail are the prelude to the vision of a recumbent body.

St. Ambrose passed away, breathing his last breath surrounded by suffering figures.

The pathos, the pain, the final greeting: a multitude of people participate in the solemn funeral of the Saint, heartbroken by the loss of a guide. Patron of Milan, he was able to stem the Arian heresy.

In the faces of the afflicted men and women, the mark of the boundless love of a community towards their pastor.