AMBROSE TRAVERSARI, BL.

camaldolese monk and early Christian humanist; b. Portico, southwest of Ravenna, Sept. 16, 1386; d. Fontebuono, Nov. 17, 1439. He entered the Camaldolese cenobitic monastery, St. Mary of the Angels, at Florence, Oct. 8, 1400, and was professed Nov. 6, 1401. Soon Florentine humanists such as Niccoli, Strozzi, and Cosimo de Medici visited his cell to discuss classical and patristic literature, philosophy, and theology. Ambrose gathered and emended ancient texts and translated many works of the Greek Fathers. He became subprior in January 1431, and prior general of his order on Oct. 26, 1431, because of his interest in reform. The Hodoeporicon is a diary of the resulting visitations from December 1431 to 1433. He represented Pope eugene iv at the Council of basel, and before Emperor sigismund. At Ferrara and Florence in 1438 he effectively employed his knowledge of Greek in negotiating with Byzantine representatives leading to reunion of the Roman and Orthodox Churches.

Feast: Nov. 20.

Bibliography: Hodoeporicon, ed. v. tamburini (Florence 1985). Ambrogio Traversari: un monaco e un monastero nell'umanesimo fiorentino, ed. s. frigerio (Camaldoli 1988). a. dini-traversari, Ambrogio Traversari e i suoi tempi (Florence 1912). g. mercati, Ultimi contributi alla storia degli umanisti, 2 v. (Studi e Testi 90, 91; 1939) v.1. c. l. stinger, Humanism and the Church Fathers: Ambrogio Traversari (1386–1439) and Christian Antiquity in the Italian Renaissance (Albany, N.Y. 1977). j. wodka, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 1:431.

[n. g. wolf]