Simplician
former Archbishop of Milan; a Saint in the Catholic Church
Simplician (Latin: Simplicianus; Italian: Simpliciano) was Bishop of Milan from 397 to 400 or 401 AD. He is honoured as a Saint in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches and his feast day is August 14.
Life
Simplician was born about 320 probably in Rome and still young he became a churchman. He became expert in the Holy Scripture and very educated. In about 355 he took an active part in the conversion to Christianity of the philosopher Marius Victorinus. When in 374 Ambrose was elected bishop of Milan and baptized, Simplician became his teacher of doctrine. Ambrose used to call Simplician father, as a sign of spiritual relationship. Probably in this period Simplician moved to Milan where he remained.
Simplician took also an active part in the conversions of both Alypius of Thagaste and Augustine of Hippo. The meeting between Augustine and Simplican occurred in Milan in 386 and it is recorded in Augustine's Confessions. After his conversion, Augustine also called Simplician father, and in 397 he dedicated to Simplician two books on the issue of predestination, known as De Diversis Quaestionibus ad Simplicianum.
“Simplician” enters the record as former Archbishop of Milan; a Saint in the Catholic Church. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Simplician, former and Archbishop can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1433011. VIAF identifies the subject as 8125151248010644270005. The Library of Congress control number is nr96017534. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Simplician” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.