The Witness of Ambrose

Ambrose, that illustrious priest of God, who never left the Lord’s hand and always shone like a jewel on the finger of God, speaks this way in his book To the Virgins: “‘My brother is white and ruddy.’ White, because he is the glory of the Father; ruddy, because he was born of the Virgin. But remember that in him the signs of his divinity are older than the mysteries of the body. For he did not begin to exist from the Virgin; he who already existed came into the Virgin.” [a]

Again, on Christmas Day: “See the miracle of the mother of the Lord. A virgin conceived, a virgin gave birth. She was a virgin when she conceived, a virgin when she was with child, a virgin after the birth. As it says in Ezekiel, ‘And the gate was shut and not opened, because the Lord passed through it.’ What splendid virginity, and what wonderful fruitfulness! The Lord of the world is born, and there are no cries from her who gave birth to him. The womb is emptied, a true child is born, and yet her virginity is not destroyed. It was right that, when God was born, the power of chastity should grow greater, and that her purity should not be violated by the going out of him who had come to heal what was corrupt.”

Again, in his explanation of the Gospel according to Luke, he says that “one who was engaged to a husband was especially chosen to give birth to God.” He clearly declares that God was born of the Virgin. He calls Mary the Mother of God. Where, then, is that dreadful and hateful saying of yours: “How can she be the mother of one whose nature is different from her own? And if she is called his mother by them, it is the human nature that was born, not the Godhead”? That illustrious teacher of the faith says both that she who bore him was human and that he who was born is God, and yet that this is no ground for unbelief, but only a miracle of faith.