Ambrosian Brothers

AMBROSIAN BROTHERS. – A monastic congregation which, by a bull of Gregory XI (1375), gathered into a canonical community under the rule of St. Augustine, but according to the Ambrosian rite, a group of hermits who had long been living in the hermitage of S. Ambrogio ad Nemus at the gates of Milan. The foundation of this hermitage is attributed to St. Ambrose himself, whereas in reality the hermits were brought together by three Milanese nobles, Alessandro Crivelli, Antonio Petrasaneta, and Alberto Besuzzi (12th or 13th century). The various monasteries that subsequently arose were placed under the jurisdiction of the monastery of S. Ambrogio ad Nemus by the bull of Eugenius IV in 1441. The Congregation of the Brothers of S. Barbara was united to this congregation by Sixtus IV. They died out in the 17th century.