1976 Yearbook
Source URL
Title
1976 Yearbook
Description
For an Advanced Composition assignment during Fall
Semester, I was asked to find out why St. Ambrose
College was named after St. Ambrose. So, I began my
research. I asked Leo Miller in public relations, Bev
Ginsberg in publications, and people I passed on the
street. I knew that no books had been written on the
subject, although volumes had been written on St.
Ambrose's life. Finally I asked Father McMann. Here is my
hypothesis on why our fine institution of higher learning is
named St. Ambrose College.
First of all, I must admit that I thought St. Ambrose was just another run-of-the-
mill saint. As it turns out he was a remarkable man and an ideal person to name a
liberal arts college after. He was from a noble Roman family and lived in the 4th
century, A.D. Back then children from noble Roman families went to school (not
everyone did). He started studying at the age of seven in the topics studied for a
liberal arts education in those days: elements, grammar, and rhetoric. He seems to
have been a free thinking person because he was much critized by his fellow
scholars for reading soundlessly with his mouth closed, when the techniques of
the time were to reach oneself out loud. He sort of
popularized the
soundless
reading method
that we use
today.
When he was a
baby, according
to legend, he
was laying in his
cradle, as babies
are prone to do,
when a swarm
of bees flew on
to his face
crawling in and
out of his
mouth. Well,
you can
85
Semester, I was asked to find out why St. Ambrose
College was named after St. Ambrose. So, I began my
research. I asked Leo Miller in public relations, Bev
Ginsberg in publications, and people I passed on the
street. I knew that no books had been written on the
subject, although volumes had been written on St.
Ambrose's life. Finally I asked Father McMann. Here is my
hypothesis on why our fine institution of higher learning is
named St. Ambrose College.
First of all, I must admit that I thought St. Ambrose was just another run-of-the-
mill saint. As it turns out he was a remarkable man and an ideal person to name a
liberal arts college after. He was from a noble Roman family and lived in the 4th
century, A.D. Back then children from noble Roman families went to school (not
everyone did). He started studying at the age of seven in the topics studied for a
liberal arts education in those days: elements, grammar, and rhetoric. He seems to
have been a free thinking person because he was much critized by his fellow
scholars for reading soundlessly with his mouth closed, when the techniques of
the time were to reach oneself out loud. He sort of
popularized the
soundless
reading method
that we use
today.
When he was a
baby, according
to legend, he
was laying in his
cradle, as babies
are prone to do,
when a swarm
of bees flew on
to his face
crawling in and
out of his
mouth. Well,
you can
85
Date
1976
Rights
St. Ambrose University, 518 W. Locust St., Davenport, IA 52803
Identifier
http://cdm16810.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16810coll2/id/3129