When the decision was finally made to abandon the mission, the exhausted priests, in poor health and dispirited, left with heavy hearts. Father Ravalli traveled to Coeur d’Alene, a journey of eight days that required 72 river crossings.
A living landmark, Old Cataldo Mission stands serenely on a hill 25 miles east of Coeur d’Alene along Interstate 90 in Idaho’s northern panhandle. Uncommon in its architecture, venerable in its chronicles, romantic in its history, The Old Mission beckons a welcome to all who come within sight of the hill upon which it sets.
In 1848, Father Anthony Ravalli perched on these gentle slopes spreading from the Coeur d’Alene River to the mountains. Two years later, using Old-World ideas as his blueprints, he began to construct the Mission. His tools: a broad axe, an auger, a penknife, and some ropes and pulleys. Nails were not available, so holes needed to be burrowed into uprights and rafters and joined with wooden pegs.
The ingenuity of workmanship still patent today at the Old Catalo Mission — sanctuary walls of strong flowered cloth, wooden statues of the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evangelist, three hand-chiseled altars — can be attributed to Ravalli, his two brothers, and members of the Coeur d’Alene Indian tribe.
At one point, an enervated Ravalli was assigned to Santa Clara Mission in California to recuperate. Refreshed, he returned to the mission at Coeur d’Alene, where he finalized construction and decoration of the new church. Using the materials at hand, he made a baptismal font from tin cans and solder, a pine credence table of perfect artisanship and design, as well as tabernacle doors from old copper cauldrons.
In 1855, General Isaac Stevens spent the night at the mission, where he administered the Oath of Allegiance to the United States to Fathers Superior Gazzoli and Ravalli. John Mix Stanley, architect and artist with the Stevens party, upon viewing Father Ravalli’s work commented, “Good taste and harmony of proportions.”
The Cataldo Mission — now the oldest standing building in Idaho — was a special place for Ravalli, a safe place for a long time. It was a glorious, primitive path and a kind of leafy, sun-dappled, mosquito-infested, hilly heaven. Certainly, for at least a few triumphant moments, he felt peace there.
In 1866, Father Ravalli returned to St. Mary’s in the Bitterroot. A new church was needed, and he took on the job of designing, supervising, and decorating it. He designed, built, and decorated the altar using colors the Indians concocted from berries, indigo, and vermillion, and the chrome of eastern Montana caves. In his hands, extremities of a sculptor, a cottonwood tree became a figurine of Mary, Mother of Jesus.
Article comments
1 - S.Smith
As we consider moving to Ravalli County, I wondered where Ravalli came from or what Ravalli means.
Thanks for the Biographical information. It's a good name.