Ambrose
339 — 397 · Feast day: December 7
The Bishop of Milan whose preaching — honeyed eloquence symbolized by the beehive — helped draw Augustine of Hippo to baptism. Appointed governor, then acclaimed bishop by the crowd before he was even baptized, Ambrose composed hymns still sung today, championed Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism, and forced Emperor Theodosius to public penance for the Thessalonica massacre.