In 1841, Jesuit missionaries, led by Pierre-Jean DeSmet, established the St. Mary’s Mission among the Flathead Indians (also known as the Bitterroot Salish) in present-day Stevensville, Montana. The Mission was established at the request of the Flatheads who had heard about the power of the Blackrobes (the Indian term for the Jesuits) from Iroquois trappers sent into the area by the Canadian fur companies.
According to Indian agent Peter Ronan, in his 1890 book History of the Flathead Indians:
“On the 3d day of December, 1841, about one-third of the Flathead tribe were baptized into the Catholic faith, and the others who were under religious instructions were received into the fold on Christmas day of that same year.”
In his book Charlo’s People: The Flathead Tribe, Adolf Hungry Wolf reports:
“But after all their efforts to learn about the Catholic religion, the Flatheads were soon discouraged by the attitudes of the priests. The People wanted to add Catholicism to their own Ways of Life—not to exchange their Ways for the ways that the priests demanded.”
(See also Indians 201: Christianity Comes to the Flathead Indians)
Accompanying DeSmet were two other Jesuit priests—the scholarly priest Gregory Mengarini (1811-1886) and the artist missionary Nicholas Point—and three lay brothers. Jesuit scholar Wilfred Schoenber, in his chapter in Religion in Montana: Pathways to the Present, reports:
“Mengarini produced several significant works in the Flathead language. Point painted Indians, gradually amassing a collection that compares favorably with that of Catlin and other early frontier artists.”
Father Anthony Ravalli (1812-1884) arrived in 1844. Ravalli designed buildings, carved statues, made furniture, and practiced medicine.
By 1846, there was much unrest among the Bitterroot Salish due to the ongoing battles with the Blackfoot who often ventured from their homelands east of the Rocky Mountains to capture Salish horses, which were often regarded as very fine. DeSmet, not understanding Indian ways, travelled to the Blackfoot to bring them Christianity. From a Salish perspective, this was a form of treason. The Salish felt that the spiritual power of the Blackrobes had helped them defeat the Blackfoot in battle. To give this power to their traditional enemies was cultural betrayal.
By 1847, it was obvious to the Jesuits that that fervor which the Bitterroot Salish had once shown for Christianity was gone. Father Ravalli, in his report to Rome, indicated that the Indians were now giving the missionaries a “chilly” reception. Ravalli notes that following DeSmet’s journey to convert the Blackfoot that:
“…they had given themselves up to their old war dances to savage obscenity and shameless excesses of the flesh.”
Ignorant of Salish culture, history, and language, Ravalli makes no connection between DeSmet’s betrayal and the Salish apostasy. He wrote to Rome:
“We knew that we were not to blame for such a change and we bewailed it all the more when we saw that they went on constantly getting worse.”
In 1850, the Jesuits closed St. Mary’s Mission and sold the property to a local trader who turned it into Fort Owen which served as a trading post for the Bitterroot Valley. The Jesuits abandoned the mission because they had little protection from Blackfoot attacks and many Salish had abandoned the mission (known historically as the Flathead Apostasy). Indian agent Peter Ronan, appointed to his post by the Catholic Church, in his 1890 book History of the Flathead Indians, blamed the lack of Salish protection for the mission on the traders:
“Those men—licentious, immoral and impure generally, who accept from the great fur companies of the west, situations as trappers, hunters, etc., lead wild and desolate lives, and in their career of debauchery among the simple natives, brooked no opposition, and looked with jealous eyes upon the missionaries’ teachings of Christianity and virtue, and in the councils of the Indians began to sow the seed of discontent against the missionaries for the new order of things, which deprived the Christianized Indian from as many wives as he choose to take and in prohibiting debauchery of the Indian women by those lewd camp followers.”
The remaining Jesuits—Father Joset and Brother Claessens—with a few remaining Christian Indians, loaded four wagons and three carts with the mission records, altar supplies, books, medicines, and tools, and left the mission.
In 1866, the Jesuits returned to restore the St. Mary’s Mission. With the restoration of the Mission, Father Ravalli returned and remained at the Mission until his death in 1884.
Since 1988 the Historic St. Mary’s Mission Complex in Stevensville, Montana has been administered by a non-profit organization as an educational experience for students, historians, travelers, and others. The Complex is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Shown below are photographs of the Mission Complex.
Father Ravalli’s Cabin
Father Anthony Ravalli arrived in 1844. In his chapter on the Jesuits in Religion in Montana: Pathways to the Present, Wilfred Schoenberg, S.J., writes:
“He set bones in a manner far ahead of his times, made his own medicines and dispensed them from a primitive apothecary shop that still stands. Ravalli saved countless frostbitten feet, ears, and noses of unfortunate miners, and in his spare time, he carved statues, built classic period furniture, and painted images of the saints to edify the Indians.”
One of the information panels in the Historic St. Mary’s Mission Museum describes him this way:
“Father Ravalli was tall, portly, with a commanding presence. He carried a cheerful demeanor and was quick of wit—an engaging storyteller.”
It should be noted that in spite of his many accomplishments, Father Ravalli was unable to learn any Indian language.
Diorama
The diorama shows Chief Big Face, Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, S.J., and Chief Victor.
Dove Cote
A dove cote is a structure which houses pigeons or doves. These birds were an important food source for the Europeans.
Ox Cart Barn
The Jesuit missionaries used two-wheeled carts, similar to the one shown in the barn, to carry their belongings.
Smoke House and Root Cellar
Outhouse
Cemetery
Storage Shed
Father Ravalli’s Apple Tree
Indians 101
Twice each week—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—this series presents American Indian topics. More from this series:
Indians 101: Huron concepts of death
Indians 101: Some repatriated Tlingit artifacts (photo diary)
Indians 101: Outlawing the potlatch in Canada
Indians 101: A very short overview of treaties
Indians 101: Some historic photos of the Bitterroot Salish (photo diary)
Indians 101: Columbia River canoes (photo diary)
Indians 101: The Hopi Reservation, 1900-1936
Indians 101: Methow Indian Exhibit (photo diary)