Peccata haereditaria in Ambrose of Milan

In his polemics against Pelagianism, Augustine of Hippo quotes his master Ambrose of Milan as a witness of the doctrine of original sin. However, Ambrose uses the expression peccata haereditaria only once and the term peccatum originale never. In his comments to the Psalm 50 he holds that every man (except Christ) is from the conception and birth infected by a contagion or iniquity caused by the fall of Adam. Unlike Augustine, the need to defend the personal responsibility lead Ambrose to underline the difference between our sin and the one of Adam. For that reason he stresses that the consequences of Adam's fall lies in the inclination to fault, everyone will be judged only for his own sins.

Keywords: Ambrose of Milan (339?-397); Original sin; Patristics