The Church Fathers · c. 390–391
On the Sacraments
De Sacramentis
Ambrose of Milan · c. 339 – 397
What it is
Six addresses to the newly baptised at Milan, apparently taken down by a shorthand writer as Ambrose spoke — repetitive, colloquial, and much less polished than his written work. It quotes the eucharistic prayer he actually used, word for word.
Why it lasted
The oldest text of the Roman canon of the Mass, and the earliest Western statement that the words of Christ change what is on the altar. The Latin liturgy's central prayer can be read here in the form a congregation heard it in 390.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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