Sublime

Ambrose, on becoming bishop of Milan, melted all of the objects of gold in the temple, saying, “The church has gold not to store up but to lay out and spend on those in need, for would not the Lord himself say: why didst thou suffer so many to die of hunger?

Ambrose, while he was eminent as a statesman, was, in other respects, merely typical of his age. He wrote, like other ecclesiastical authors, a treatise in praise of virginity, and another deprecating the remarriage of widows. When he had decided on the site for his new cathedral, two skeletons (revealed in a vision, it was said) were conveniently

Poucos são sábios o bastante para preferir a crítica útil ao elogio que os trai.

Muitas vezes, uma grande maldade pode estar disfarçada pela máscara da mais profunda bondade e da mais elevada iluminação.

Na Roma Antiga (800 aec a cerca de 500 ec), ela recebeu muitos títulos complementares, incluindo “Salvadora”, “Grande” e “A Mais Manifestada”.

Lugar de culto, lugar público, a igreja seria, então, também um lugar de sedução e de prazer. Onde, vez por outra, Deus dava licença ao Diabo...