Jesuits arrived in the Missoula Valley in 1841 en route to the Bitterroot, where they established the first Catholic mission in the Rocky Mountains. In 1873, they opened a chapel in Missoula, and in 1881 built the first St. Francis Xavier Church. Father Diomedi, S.J., arrived at St. Francis Xavier in 1888 after overseeing many major building projects during his career and quickly recognized the need for a larger church. He hired Portland architect Mr. Blanchard to furnish the plans and Missoula contractor Patrick Walsh to oversee construction. Designed to hold 600 people in the sanctuary and another 150 in the choir loft, the 1892 brick edifice was then Montana’s largest church. Its cruciform Romanesque Revival design features semicircular arches over windows and doors, miniature arches along the eaveline, small buttresses, and a soaring bell tower. The style’s large interior expanses suited murals, and Jesuit lay brother Joseph Carignano, a Turin, Italy, native who also painted the frescoes at St. Ignatius Mission, decorated the interior under the influence of the Italian Renaissance, using feathery trees, oval female faces, classical costumes, and painted pilasters. Decorative stained glass, a magnificent pipe organ, and a 2,270 pound church bell dedicated to Jesuit missionary Father Lawrence Palladino complete the interior.