Letter 60: Ambrose, Bishop, to the faithful of Milan — on the death of the Emperor Valentinian.

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.

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