St. Ignatius Mission

St. Ignatius Mission
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
St. Ignatius Mission, St. Ignatius, Montana
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Location	approximately 1/8 mile southeast of US Highway 93 in St. Ignatius, Montana
Coordinates	47°18′54″N 114°6′7″W
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	1891–1893
Architect	Brother Joseph Carignano
NRHP reference No.	73001053[1]
Added to NRHP	June 19, 1973

The St. Ignatius Mission is a landmark Catholic mission located in St. Ignatius, Montana. It was founded in 1854 by Jesuit priests Pierre-Jean De Smet and Adrian Hoecken. The current mission church was built between 1891 and 1893, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.^[1][2][3]

Interior, St. Ignatius Mission

The mission church serves the St. Ignatius parish within the Missoula Deanery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.^[4]

Architecture

The mission church is a simplified, vernacular example of Gothic revival architecture constructed of bricks made from native clay. The most exceptional feature of the interior are the 58 murals painted by Brother Joseph Carignano, an untrained artist who worked as a cook in the mission.^[5] The murals include depictions of Christian imagery mixed with representations of the Salish belief system.^[6] The church is 120 by 60 feet (37 m × 18 m) in plan and its belfry is nearly 100 feet (30 m) high.^[3]

Notes and references

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "History". St. Ignatius Mission. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
3. Norman Guyaz (April 10, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: St. Ignatius Mission". National Park Service. Retrieved August 6, 2017. With two photos from 1971.
4. "Parishes and Missions: Home". Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena. Retrieved August 31, 2007.
5. Krause, Jan. "Saint Ignatius Mission". Lakeshore Country Journal. Retrieved August 30, 2007.^{[dead link‍]}
6. Spero, Mark; Pelletier, Stephen. "St. Ignatius - Guardian of the Mission Mountains". University Of Montana. Retrieved January 25, 2023.

External links

• History and visiting information
• Mission website