# Letters - Author: [Ambrose](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/ambrose/) - Latin title: *Epistulae* - Date: ca. 377 (approximate) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, vol. 16 (Paris, 1845), cols. 1189-1251 (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-epistulae/ - Passages: 3 ## Letter 63 (to the church of Vercelli), section 62 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-epistulae/63-62/#p-63-62 - Source: PL 16:1205b–1206 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Ambrose explains that “the husband of one wife” does not forbid a bishop to be married, but requires him to keep his baptismal grace by conjugal chastity, not to beget children in office, and not to marry again. ### Latin text Hæc posui, quæ cavenda acceperim : virtutum autem magister Apostolus est, qui cum patientia redarguendos doceat contradicentes , qui unius uxoris virum (Ibid.) præcipiat esse , non quo exsortem excludat conjugii (nam hoc supra legem praecepti est), sed ut conjugali castimonia servet ablutionis suae gratiam : neque iterum ut filios in sacerdotio creare Apostolica Invitetur auctoritate; habentem enim dixit filios , non facientem neque conjugium iterantem. ### English translation (Claude) I have set down these things which I have received as things to be guarded against; but the Apostle is the teacher of virtues, who teaches that those who contradict are to be refuted with patience, who commands that a bishop be the husband of one wife, not so as to exclude him from marriage and leave him without part in it (for that is beyond the precept of the law), but that by conjugal chastity he may keep the grace of his washing; nor again that he be invited by apostolic authority to beget children in the priesthood; for he said “having children,” not “begetting them,” nor “repeating marriage.” ### Scripture references - 2 Tim 2:25: allusion, medium confidence - Titus 1:9: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 3:2: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 3:4: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations: 2 Tim 2:25 (Titus 1:9); 1 Tim 3:2, 4. A stray note letter and OCR slips were corrected; “exc cluda” is read as “excludat”. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Ep. 63.62 (PL 16:1205b–1206 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-epistulae/63-62). ## Letter 63 (to the church of Vercelli), section 63 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-epistulae/63-62/#p-63-63 - Source: PL 16:1206a–1206 b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Ambrose rejects the view that a marriage before baptism does not count: baptism forgives sins, but marriage is a law, not a fault, so a twice-married man cannot be ordained though he is not guilty. ### Latin text Quod ideo non prætermisi, quia plerique ita argumentantur unius uxoris virum dici post baptismum habitæ ; eo quod baptismo vitium sit ablutum, quo afferebatur impedimentum. Et vitii quidem atque peccata diluuntur omnia ; at si quis contaminaverit suum corpus cum plurimis, quas nulla conjugii lege sociaverit, remittantur ei omnia : sed conjugia non resolvuntur, si quis iteraverit; culpa enim lavacro , non lex solvitur : nulla enim culpa conjugii ; sed lex est. Quod legis est igitur non remittitur, quasi culpa : sed tenetur, quasi lex. Ideo et Apostolus legem posuit, dicens : Si quis sine crimine est, unius uxoris vir. Ergo qui sine crimine est, unius uxoris vir , tenetur ad legem sacerdotii suscipiendi : qui autem iteraverit conjugium, culpam quidem non habet coinquinati, sed prærogativa exuitur sacerdotis. ### English translation (Claude) I have not passed this over, because many argue that he is called “the husband of one wife” with reference to the wife had after baptism, on the ground that by baptism the fault is washed away by which the impediment was brought in. And indeed all faults and sins are washed away; and if anyone has defiled his body with very many women whom he joined to himself by no law of marriage, all these things are forgiven him; but marriages are not dissolved if anyone has repeated them. For by the washing the fault is loosed, not the law; for there is no fault in marriage, but it is a law. What, then, belongs to the law is not forgiven as a fault, but is held as a law. That is why the Apostle too laid down a law, saying, “If anyone is without crime, the husband of one wife.” So one who is without crime, the husband of one wife, is held to the law of receiving the priesthood; but one who has repeated marriage has indeed no guilt of defilement, but is stripped of the prerogative of a priest. ### Scripture references - Titus 1:6: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 3:2: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Quotation: Titus 1:6 (with 1 Tim 3:2). Many OCR slips; the clearest corrected, the rest translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Ep. 63.63 (PL 16:1206a–1206 b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-epistulae/63-63). ## Letter 63 (to the church of Vercelli), section 64 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/ambrose-epistulae/63-62/#p-63-64 - Source: PL 16:1206b–1206 c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Ambrose adds that Nicaea also excluded the twice married from the clergy, and argues that a cleric who exhorts widows not to remarry must himself have kept faith with his first marriage. ### Latin text Diximus quid legis sit, dicamus etiam quid rationis. Sed prius cognoscamus non solum hoc Apostolum de episcopo et presbytero statuisse, sed etiam Patres in concilio Nicæni tractatus addidisse; neque clericum quemquam debere esse , qui secunda conjugia sortitus sit. Quomodo enim potest consolari viduam, honorare, cohortari ad custodiendam viduitatem , servandam marito fidem , quam ipse priori conjugio non reservaverit ? Aut quid interesset inter populum et sacerdotem, si iisdem astringerentur legibus ? Debet præponderare vita sacerdotis, sicut præponderat gratia ; nam qui alios præceptis suis ligat , debet ipse legitima praecepta in se custodire. ### English translation (Claude) We have said what belongs to law; let us say also what belongs to reason. But first let us recognize that not only did the Apostle lay this down concerning the bishop and the presbyter, but the Fathers too in the council of Nicaea added in their discussion that no one ought to be a cleric who has contracted a second marriage. For how can he console a widow, honour her, exhort her to keep her widowhood and to preserve her faith to her husband, when he himself has not kept it to his former marriage? Or what difference would there be between the people and the priest, if they were bound by the same laws? The priest's life ought to outweigh, as his grace outweighs; for one who binds others by his precepts ought himself to keep lawful precepts in himself. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 3:2: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 5:9: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Conc. Nic. (Creed and Canons of the Council of Nicaea (325)): allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - Ambrose attributes to the Council of Nicaea a rule excluding the twice married from the clergy; no such canon survives among the canons of Nicaea (perhaps a reference to its discussions, or to canon 8 on the Novatianists; uncertain). Translated as written. OCR slips corrected; a stray note letter removed. ### Citation (SBL) Ambrose, Ep. 63.64 (PL 16:1206b–1206 c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-epistulae/63-64).