Introduction.
Besides
his elder sister
Marcellina, who received the veil at the hands of Pope Liberius, at
Christmas [perh. 353
a.d.
], St. Ambrose had
also a brother named Satyrus, to which name, in the epitaph on him
ascribed to the bishop, is added Uranius. This is probably,
however, merely in reference to his translation from earth to
heaven.
Satyrus had in his earlier years, as well as St.
Ambrose, practised as an advocate, and held office. But when his
brother was appointed Bishop of Milan, Satyrus at once gave up his
appointment, and devoted his life to managing St. Ambrose’s
secular affairs, that nothing might distract him from his episcopal
duties. After however, a few short years of devotion to this
task, he succumbed to a severe illness October 17,
a.d.
379.
The grief of St. Ambrose at the loss of his absolutely
like-minded brother was intense, and to it we owe the exquisite
discourse delivered at the funeral of Satyrus, and the second, on the
resurrection, delivered a week later.
St. Ambrose subsequently revised these two
addresses, and they have come down to us as the “two books of St.
Ambrose on the decease of Satyrus,” some
mss.
adding, “and the resurrection of the
dead.”
The epitaph on Satyrus, said to be by St. Ambrose, is as
follows:
Uranio Satyro supremum frater honorem
Martyris
1454
ad lævam
detulit Ambrosius.
Hæc meriti merces, ut sacri sanguinis humor
Finitimas penetrans adluat exuvias.
1454
i.e.
St.
Victor.