The following information is from the church's website (
visit link) :
"The Catholic community that grew around St Ambrose Parish beginning in the early 1800's was bound by more than a common faith; many members of the parish were also kinfolk. Descended from the Minorcan clan who had lived in St Augustine since the 1700's, these intertwined families migrated inland to find farmland, settling 12 miles southwest of St Augustine at Moccasin Branch.
Priests from St. Augustine served the parish until 1860. Then, Father Henry Peter Clavreul arrived from France to minister to the settlement, and to other Catholic enclaves in southwestern St. Johns County. During this period, the Moccasin Branch faithful attended Mass at a barn on the Solano farm. In 1875, Father Clavreul's successor, Father Stephen Langlade, built the first St Ambrose Church. A skilled carpenter, Father Langlade was architect and contractor on the project. Parishioners provided labor and a quota of five pine trees per family.
From 1881 to 1948, a two-room school operated by the Sisters of St Joesph from St Augustine educated generations of parish children. By the early 1900's, the community had outgrown Father Langlade's hand-hewn building. The "new" St Ambrose Church was finished in 1907. It has served the parish ever since."
The following additional information is from a historical marker near the church:
"The intact buildings and grounds of St. Ambrose Parish reflect the commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to reach small rural communities in Florida. Catholic Mass was first celebrated with settlers in a barn here at Moccasin Branch in the early 1800s. In 1875, St. Ambrose Parish was established when a small wood frame church was built by Father Stephen Langlade. Father Langlade was a skilled carpenter from France who also built a rectory, school, convent, and a larger church by 1907. A second convent was built after the first one burned in 1917, and a new parish hall was built in 1938. Students attended the school from 1881 through 1948 under the tutelage of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who lived in the convent. The early settlers of the area were farmers of Spanish, Irish, Minorcan, Greek, and Italian heritage. Their descendants, with names such as Ashton, Floyd, Lopez, Masters, Ortagus, Pacetti, Pappy, Pellicer, Rogero, Sanchez, Solana, Solano, Triay, Weedman, and others, continue to live in the area and attend the small parish church. The pioneers whose daily lives were intertwined with St. Ambrose Parish are buried in the cemetery nearby."