Authentic Witnesses
One of the most admirable aspects of the relationship between St. Ambrose and St. Augustine during the time that St. Augustine was taking instruction from St. Ambrose was the willingness of St. Ambrose to let St. Augustine leave and return to North Africa without being received into the Church. St. Augustine understood everything that St. Ambrose had taught him and thought all of it made perfect sense. He just couldn't believe it. Instead of telling St. Augustine that he didn't have to believe all of it or that he could decide for himself what he believed, St. Ambrose respected the truth of the Catholic faith and St. Augustine's dignity and did not receive St. Augustine on a kind of "conditional" basis. For both St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, everything the Church taught was vital to and necessary for salvation and, therefore, had to be believed. The reason St. Augustine had not become a devoted follower of any other religion or philosophy at the time was this v...