“The possessions of the Church are the maintenance of the poor.”
The possessions of the Church are the maintenance of the poor.
Ambrose · Letters, and the funeral orations · NPNF2 X, Epistle XVIII
His reply to Symmachus over the Altar of Victory. The pagan case rested partly on the temples' revenues; Ambrose answers that church property is not wealth but a fund, and asks how many captives the temples ever ransomed.
How this is known
These words were matched, word for word, against this project’s own copy of the volume cited.
Read in de Romestin, NPNF series 2 vol. 10 (1896) · H. de Romestin, with E. de Romestin and H. T. F. Duckworth
Also by
- Ambrose every saying recorded of this person, and their page