Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-01-20

ldSU Tues OF MS GAZING.
Worked as Artisan
As the artisan he fashioned furni-
ture, candle molds, agricultural i'm
PIGMENTS, saddlery and other leather
accoutrements for his church and his
community.
AS the artist he fashioned the re-
ligious icons of st. Mary's; they are
still in use today.
A statue of st. Ignatius, Father of
the Black Robes" he fashioned from
clay of the Bitter Root river, binding
the clay with glue from buffalo hooves
to fashion the face and hands; the
robe was made of buffalo hide, and
wood forms the book held in the hands.
Souvenir hunters have disfigured the
hands and cut away straps from the
robe.
There is the story of a young In
dian mother whose child was ill. She
hoped the Black Robes would come to
save it. Her pleadings sent the third
of the Flathead expeditions on the
way to st. Louis. The child died be-
fore the priests came. 1t was buried
within the mothers tepee.
But the Black Robes will come"
said the heartbroken mother. They
will build their mission where my
tepee stands. They will save Others
The legend has 1t that the child lies
buried under the right side of the old
mission structure, few feet from the
altar.
This episode was the inspiration for
Father Ravalli's picture of the Indian
mother, kneeling. beside, her ailing
child in supplication to the Christ of
the Black Robes, that He in His COM
passion might speed their coming to
minister to her child. The picture
hangs on the wall almost opposite the
spot where the child is supposed to
be buried.
Cabin Housed Altar
When st. Mary's was first built, &C
cording to those who tell the story of
its beginnings, the central section of
the present structure-the roof is be-
coming slightly swaybacked with age
was built to house the first crude altar.
The structure had no floor. The In
dians-and the few white men in the
country sat in a Semi-circle on the
floor, facing the altar at which the
priests said their masses. In winter a
fire was built on the dirt floor, with
the smoke escaping, tepee fashion,
through a hole in the roof.
While Father De Smet carried on
his work in other sections of the Flat
head country, Father Ravalli minis
tered to the people of the Bitter Root
valley and gradually improved the ia
cilities of St. Mary's, until in 1850
changing conditions dictated aban-
donment of the mission for time.
Major John Owen, army sutler, left
frontier bound troops in the vicinity
of Fort Hall and turned to the Bitter
Root valley to establish trading post.
He established Fort Owen in an adobe
building which now stands in a field
beside the highway near the Stevens
vile bridge He bought the improve
ments at the mission as part of the
facilities of his post, which he oper-
ated until white men created more
modern community centers.
Father Ravalli returned to st. Mary's
about 1866 and resumed his work there.
He provided sanctuary for all who
came that way. No one was ever
turned aside. 1t is said the mountain
men of the 1840's-the trappers who
often were both INDECENT and incident
during hard times would assemble at
St. Mary's, ostensibly to catch up on
their religion, but actually to live for
while the good life provided by
Father Ravallis bounty.
Years Bring Changes
When Father Ravallis work of 40
years in the Indian country was ended
by death. sadness encompassed an en-
pire of the mountains. Coming to the
wilderness in the prime of life, he re
manned to see the white man find gold
in the neighboring hills; he saw a new
territory born, destined for statehood.
He saw his beloved land beset by the
cruelty and terrorism of road agent
band. He saw protestants of the Ma
sonic fraternity united by the request
of a dying brother for Masonic fun
eral-the nucleus of Montana's famous
Vigilante band which scourged out
lawry and brought good government
to the mountains. He saw his red chill
dren gradually crowded to smaller
and smaller reservations. their hearts
saddened by removal from the land
they loved-soil traditionally theirs
through the ages.
The transition of the red man was
not complete when loving hands car
ried all that was mortal of Father
Ravalli to the little churchyard of st.
Marys to rest forever in soil bleSt by
his labor and his ministry of service.
In later years a marble shaft was
erected with this inscription:
MoNTANA'S TRIBUTE
TO FATHER ANTONY RAVALL1
S. J..
Who spent 40 years in this far west for
the good of souls and suffering man
kind as a jealous missionary and char
liable physician:
Died October 2, 1894
In western Montana still are men
and women in the sunset of life, both
red and white, to whom Father Ra-
valli was saint, and as saint he Is
enshrined in their hearts. Father Ra-
valli, the physician, uShered them into
the world, and Father Ravalli. the
minister, guided their youthful think
ing in the way Of good citizenship.
Mission Closed in 1891
st. Marys as a mission ceased in
1891, when Chief Charlo reluctantly
left the land of his fathers and moved
to the reservation at Jocko. His peo-
pie still return to the Bitter Root each
year to gather the root Of the bitter
root plant and to commune with the
spirits of their fathers.
st. Mary's still serves the Stevens
vile community as a church, with serv-
ice each Sunday by Father James J.
Sheerin as priest. The church now is
composed of the original central sec
ton with its altar and the icons fash
fovaJ t,,, E1o Thor Povo11i front GER. |