History of our Parish - 1909

Saint Ambrose parish was established in1909 by Archbishop Patrick Riordan of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Francisco. It was named for Ambrose of Milan, a fourth century nobleman who converted to Christianity and became a bishop and Doctor of the Church. Upon his conversion, Ambrose gave away his wealth to the poor. He became known as a great preacher and prolific writer, and he was instrumental in the conversion of Saint Augustine of Hippo. The original church was a wood-framed building with a shingled exterior, which stood at the intersection of Gilman Street and Stannage Avenue the site of the current rectory. The parish's first Mass was said on Christmas Day, 1910. The current church building, at the intersection of Gilman Street and Cornell Avenue, was completed and dedicated in 1952. It is a steel-reinforced concrete structure, designed in the Gothic style with mission touches by San Francisco architect Vincent Buckley and erected by San Francisco contractors Carrico and Gautier. Its stained glass windows were designed and crafted by Carl Huneke of San Francisco's Century Stained Glass Studio. They are made of traditional leaded cathedral glass in an English style, with the exquisite faces, graceful forms, and long draped garments that are the hallmarks of Huneke's art.

The interior of the church is further enhanced by magnificent woodwork and Stations of the Cross in the style of the Renaissance sculptor Luca Della Robbia. On completion of the new church, the old building was demolished in order to move the rectory to its current location.

December 7, 1952, the date of the dedication of the new church building by San Francisco Archbishop John Mitty, held a threefold significance. In the year 374, this had been the date on which Ambrose of Milan was baptized into the Catholic Church. In 1909, in celebration of Saint Ambrose's feast day, the original church building had been dedicated by Archbishop Riordan. And perhaps most prominent in the minds of its parishioners this date recalled the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, only eleven years earlier.

The new building has withstood over fifty years of earthquakes, floods, and even vandalism. It has also seen great changes in the membership of Saint Ambrose parish, as the ethnic and cultural makeup of the entire Bay Area has changed in dramatic ways over the past half-century. The parish became a part of the Diocese of Oakland when it was established in 1962 by Pope John XXIII.

In 2001, Oakland bishop John Cummins turned control of St. Ambrose Church over to the Salesians of Don Bosco, the province of Bangalore, India. Due in no small part to the addition of a Spanish-language Sunday Mass, the past five years have seen a steady growth in membership of the parish community, as well as an increase in the groups and activities whose photographs grace the pages of this directory. In 2006, the church completed a Capital Campaign to restore the "Berkeley Jewel," which stands as a testament to the spirit of its patron: a faith that has infused the hearts of so many parishioners, and inspired lives of service and love of the needy.