Ambrose Oschwald
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Ambrose Oschwald (March 14, 1801 in Mundelfingen, Baden - February 27, 1873 in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin) was a Roman Catholic priest. Ordained to the priesthood on August 1, 1833, Fr. Oschwald came to Wisconsin to form a religious community in August 1854 where St. Nazianz, Wisconsin is now and settled at the John F. Kennedy Preparatory High School property. [1]
Oschwald led a group of German immigrants to St. Nazianz in 1854 as a religious colony. The first settlers in the Oschwald group number 113 came to the United States seeking religious freedom from the Black Forest of Baden, Germany.
Father Oschwald and his group sailed for America during the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1854, on two separate ships. One of the voyages lasted 52 days, and the other took 55 days. By the time they arrived in Milwaukee by train, Several of the group members had died. Father Oschwald bought 3,840 acres of land in Manitowoc County for $3.50 per acre. His down payment was $1,500, with the rest paid in five installments.
In late August 1854, Father Oschwald sent six men to locate the land he had purchased, and they took a boat on Lake Michigan from Milwaukee to Manitowoc, the county seat. They then headed by ox and cart to the west, getting as far as the place where Valders now stands. They then cut their way through the dense forest and arrived at their destination on August 27th. The men named the site St. Nazianz, in honor of Gregory Nazianzus. Father Oschwald followed on September 1st with more men, and the group began working to clear the land and build log houses. Soon after, work started on the community's first church, a 32-by-24-foot structure, which was built by hand. By October 21st, the church was half completed, and Father Oschwald celebrated the first mass.
Settlers began going by the name "The Association" and agreed to share everything in common and work without pay. Their arrangement continued until 1896. The group built many shops and mills and the community was thriving within just a few years after its start. People began practicing many trades, including blacksmithing, carpentry, masonry, shoemaking, woodworking, tailoring, barrel making, rope making, tanning, weaving, brick-making, baking, brewing, and others.
In the ensuing years, Father Oschwald helped start several religious organizations including the Oschwald Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order. The Salvatorian Fathers came to St. Nazianz in 1896, 15 years after the Society of the Divine Savior was founded by Father Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan in Italy. Father Oschwald died on February 27, 1873, and was buried under the alter at the old St. Ambrose Church at the Loreto Monastery. Several years later his body was moved to a shrine near Loreto Chapel in the village.
The Salvatorian Fathers and Sisters continued to work to improve the holding of the former association, and built St. Ambrose Church in 1898.
