Roman Letters

Letter 60

Ambrose of Milan→Church of Neocaesarea|c. 385 AD|ambrose milan
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From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
To: The Church at Milan
Date: ~392 AD
Context: A funeral oration for the young Emperor Valentinian II, who was found dead at Vienne in Gaul under suspicious circumstances. Ambrose eulogizes the emperor, insists on his salvation despite his not having been baptized before death, and mourns a young ruler who had shown genuine promise.

Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful of Milan — on the death of the Emperor Valentinian.

The Emperor Valentinian II is dead [found dead at Vienne in Gaul in May 392, officially by suicide; many suspected he was murdered by order of the Frankish general Arbogast]. He was twenty years old. Twenty years — and in that brief span he bore the weight of empire, endured the intrigues of his own court, faced the hostility of the Arian faction driven by his own mother, and at the last, whatever happened at Vienne, he died far from those who loved him.

I grieve for him as I would for a son. I knew him from his boyhood. I watched him grow from a child manipulated by his mother's Arian advisors into a young man who genuinely sought the Catholic faith. He asked to be baptized — he had written to me requesting it — but death came before the water.

Some will say: "He died unbaptized; therefore he is lost." I reject this with everything in me. The desire for baptism is itself a grace. The God who reads hearts knew Valentinian's intention, and the intention was sincere. "Baptism of desire" [a theological principle that genuine desire for baptism, if death prevents the rite itself, is accepted by God as equivalent] is not a loophole; it is the mercy of a God who judges the heart, not the ceremony.

I do not know what happened at Vienne. I will not speculate. Whether he took his own life in despair or was killed by those who sought power through his death, I leave to God's judgment. What I know is that he was a young man of genuine faith, cut down before he could fulfill his promise, and the empire is poorer for his loss.

Rest in peace, Valentinian. The baptism you sought on earth, I trust you have received in heaven.

May God receive his servant.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

Translation source →

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