St. Ignatius Mission - Montana

St. Ignatius Mission - St. Ignatius, Montana

St. Ignatius Mission is located in St. Ignatius, Montana on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The mission was founded by Father Peter DeSmet in 1854 as the Salish people had requested the “Black Robes” to come for the purpose of conducting missionary work among the peoples of the Salish and Kootenai tribes. The area was well suited for a Mission to be located there as the valley was a traditional meeting place for the above mentioned tribes to conduct trade and to participate in games. According to a sign out front of the church, within 35 years of the Mission’s founding, there was a large school, printing press, sawmill, flourmill, hospital, and farm operating. The beautiful church that is the centerpiece of the Mission today was completed in 1891. I stopped here to stretch my legs on the way from Kalispell to Missoula one day and I was fascinated by the beauty, attention to detail and artistic skill that has gone into this church over the last 123 years. There is a grand and unexpected Naïve with a central aisle typical of these types of churches and cathedrals with carved dark wooden pews on either side that leads to the grand pulpit area. The interior of the church is painted a pale / light bluish green and tall multicolored beautifully cut stained glass windows allow soft light to fill the interior of the church. The walls and ceiling have numerous beautiful paintings depicting important scenes from the bible. These murals were painted by Brother Joseph Carignano who incidentally was also the mission cook. As I study the old west, I am continually amazed by the talents that many of the immigrants possessed. I noticed an interesting piece that I have never seen in a Catholic church before and that was a nice table covered with a white cloth with a good sized Indian Tee Pee replica on it with rows of small red glass vessels on stepped levels, each containing a small candle. A sign announces as you enter the door that any donations to help with the church preservation fund would be greatly appreciated as they receive no Federal or State assistance. I walked back out to my car, grabbed my checkbook and wrote a check to this church that I don’t even believe in or belong to. Why? I think just because one of our basic rights as Americans is to worship as we see fit and exercise the freedom of religion. These types of churches epitomize the idea of selfless service and hopefully my small contribution, along with others will help to maintain and preserve this wonderful building. I am inspired by Father DeSmet and others who gave up everything to come out into the bitter wilderness and teach the indigenous peoples about their beliefs, farming and the French and English languages. But I digress as always. The exterior of the building is red brick with neat straight lines, a raised bell tower and tapered stained glass windows. The towering peaks of the incredible Mission Mountains to the east form an impressive backdrop. I was the only one in the church when I visited. I walked up the steps, tried the door and it was open. I removed my ball cap, stepped inside and quietly took a seat in one of the pews and spent a moment of quiet reflection. After a few minutes, I looked around at the different murals, stained glass windows and artifacts utilized by this church in their worship services and then I stepped outside. My timing was perfect because as I descended the steps, two large yellow orange school buses pulled up that were full of high school students coming to visit the church on a field trip. The St. Ignatius Mission was designated a National Historic Site in 1973. If you ever find yourself driving from Missoula to Kalispell on your way to the West Entrance of Glacier National Park, take a few min. to get a few blocks off of the Highway and visit this wonderful old church. The church welcomes visitors and admission is free. Summer hours are 8am-9pm; Winter hours are 9am-5pm. The Mission is located 43 miles north of Missoula, MT along US Highway 93.