St Ignatius Mission

St. Ignatius Mission, founded in 1853 to serve the religious and educational needs of the Salish and Kootenai people, grew from the original log cabin built by Father Hoecken and his Jesuit helpers into a mission that within 35 years included a large school, a sawmill, printing press, flour mill, hospital, farm, and the present church, which was built in 1891 and dedicated to St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. The mission's origins lay in Fr. Peter DeSmet's arrival in Montana in 1840 in response to requests from four separate delegations of Indians and his establishment of St. Mary's Mission at Stevensville in 1841. The church's renowned murals were painted by Br. Joseph Carignano, S.J., the mission cook, and in 1973 the mission was declared a National Historic Site.

St. Ignatius, Montana · United States