Primary source · Latin
The Life of Ambrose
Paulinus of Milan · c. AD 422
What this text is
The memoir of Ambrose by his own notary — including the finding of the martyrs' relics, and the translation of Nazarius with the martyr's blood 'as fresh as if shed that day.'
Public-domain translations
Working translation (from the Latin)
The body of the holy martyr Nazarius, which lay in a garden outside the city, was taken up and translated to the basilica of the Apostles... and we saw in the tomb the martyr's blood as fresh as if it had been shed that very day. (Vita 32)
Manuscript witnesses
Milanese and Carolingian tradition
9th c. onwardThe Vita in the Ambrose corpus and the legendaries.
Patrologia Latina, vol. 14 (Migne)
1845Standard pre-critical text.
Provenance
Milan; written at Augustine's urging by Ambrose's secretary
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Vita di S. AmbrogioA. A. R. Bastiaensen, 1975Critical edition with commentary (Vite dei Santi).
- The Western FathersF. R. Hoare, 1954Classic English translation of the early episcopal lives.