ST. JOHN, AMBROSE, second son of Henry St. John, and Catherine, dau. of Rev. Henry Wigley, Pensham House, Worcs.; nephew of St. Andrew St. John (qv); b. 29 Jun 1815; adm. 13 Jan 1829 (Scott's); KS 1830; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1834, matr. 15 May 1834, Westminster Student; BA 1838; MA 1840; ordained deacon (Oxford) 20 Dec 1840, priest (Canterbury) 22 May 1842; Curate, Walmer, Kent 1840-5; received into Roman Catholic Church Oct 1845; accompanied J. H. Newman to Rome 1846, where they joined the Oratorians and were ordained RC priests 1847; one of original Oratorian community which Newman established at Maryvale Jan 1848 and which moved to Hagley Road, Edgbaston 1852; volunteered with Newman to assist the Catholic priests at Bilston during cholera epidemic 1849; Head Master, Oratory School, Edgbaston, from 1862; went on mission to Rome 1867 about the Oratory School and the proposed Oratory at Oxford; broke down from overwork while translating Fessler’s book True and False Infallibility; called in Rome Newman’s “Angel Guardian”, and, “certainly”, Newman wrote, “he has been to me Azarias, the son of Ananias” (Ward, Life of J. H. Newman, 1912, ii, 410, 412); his name is singled out in the concluding paragraphs of the Apologia; d. 24 May 1875. Buried Rednal, Shropshire, where Newman was later buried in the same grave.
