Advent has so many fun and interesting saints and feast days! As we prepare for the birth of Our Savior, we can try to emulate our friends in heaven to help us along the way. We can look to them to learn how to be virtuous and holy. Today, I will share some simple ideas for celebrating the feast of St. Ambrose on December 7th.

St. Ambrose – December 7th

Patron of:

• bees
• beekeepers
• candle makers

Virtue

Charity, Faith

About St. Ambrose

St. Ambrose is a Doctor of the Church. The Arian heresies were running rampant during his time as governor. Before being baptized, it was revealed that he should become bishop of Milan. He was immediately baptized and consecrated, and served as a charitable and gentle shepherd of his flock. He was good friends with St. Monica and brought her son, St. Augustine, into the church.

How to Celebrate the Feast

• Attend Mass and encourage students to attend.
• Choose one or more of the readings from Mass to discuss in class.
• Pray the Divine Office (or, part of it) with your students. The Divine Office linked will also have many ideas for appropriate hymns to play today.
• Talk about what virtues St. Ambrose was associated with. Two examples are charity and faith. Discuss how you and your students could have charity and faith  in different scenarios.
• More discussion questions:
  • What do you think a day in the life of this saint was like?
  • What difficulties or challenges did this saint face? How did he or she overcome them?
  • How did the saint exhibit virtue in his or her life? How can we work to imitate this virtue?
  • What else can this saint teach us about living a good life and how to grow closer to Christ?

The Concluding Prayer from the Divine Office Morning Prayer on 12-7-25:

Almighty and merciful God,
may no earthly undertaking hinder those
who set out in haste to meet your Son,
but may our learning of heavenly wisdom
gain us admittance to his company.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of
the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.
— Amen.