The Story of Saint Peter's Mission

Before there was a Great Falls or a Cascade, and when Helena was barely a gold camp, St. Peter's Mission was established near Birdtail Rock. Father Pierre DeSmet was the first Jesuit to come to Montana. His journey resulted from four trips by the Flathead Indians to St. Louis to request that a Blackrobe be sent to them. Father DeSmet traveled across the country with a group of trappers in 1840. He established missions in the Bitterroot and St. Ignatius, and after meeting a small band of Blackfeet, he became determined to bring a mission to the Blackfeet.

The site of St. Peter's Mission was the fourth location attempted by the Jesuits to establish a mission for the Blackfoot nation in the 1860s. The mission, located in the hills south of Bird Tail Butte, once had the capacity for 400 students. It served as the Mother House of the Northwest for the Ursuline order of nuns and as a seminary for the Jesuits. Two large stone buildings served as boys' and girls' schools and boarding houses, each housing 200 students. Other buildings included the church, cabins, ranch structures, and a large opera house that still stands today.

The Jesuits decided to continue the mission and began constructing additional cabins for their housing. By 1878, they had completed the first section of the log church that still stands. Logs for building had to be hauled down from the mountain; they were hand-hewn, and the ends were shaped to make the corners. The altar that still adorns the chapel was built by Brother Claussens. By 1881, three more small cabins were added, and in 1882, the bell tower was constructed at the corner of the L-shaped buildings. In addition to construction projects, the Jesuits were busy starting a boys' school, traveling to Fort Shaw to provide religious services, and making missionary trips to the Blackfoot reservation.

The boys' school began with local children. Native American boys from the Blackfeet and other northern tribes, including Metis, were later added. The government had begun its program to assimilate the Indians into society, believing that education in the ways of white settlers was the best method. The Jesuits saw the need to bring in nuns to support the mission's growth and establish a girls' school. They convinced Bishop Brondel of Montana to bring nuns to St. Peter's. In October 1884, four Ursuline nuns and novitiates, led by Mother Amadeus, arrived by stagecoach after a 75-mile trip from Helena. They were given the crude cabins that the priests had abandoned.

Mother Amadeus fell ill with pneumonia in the spring of 1885, prompting a request for help from Toledo. Mother Stanislaus traveled to Montana, accompanied by her old family friend, Mary Fields. Mary became one of the most storied figures at the mission. After hearing of her friend's illness, she came to Montana-and never left. Mary was a large Black woman who had grown up a slave until emancipation. She quickly earned a rough reputation for her drinking, cigar smoking, and questionable language. Known as "Black Mary," she became legendary at the mission and later in the Cascade area. Mary helped with chores and construction, raised a garden, and kept 400 chickens.

In 1887, the Jesuits began construction of the four-story boys' school and the attached three-story priests' residence. A year later, the cornerstone was laid for Mount Angela Girls' School. Both stone buildings were completed by 1892. On January 1 of that year, Bishop Brondel from Helena said the first Mass in the Mount Angela Chapel. In addition to several white boys and girls, there were 216 Indian students at St. Peter's that year. The opera house was completed in 1896 and contained an auditorium and stage. The opera house, which can still be seen north of the mission road, now serves as a livestock barn.

The mission flourished until federal policy shifted in favor of government-run schools for Native American children. Federal funding for Indian students was cut off from St. Peter's in 1896. The Jesuits decided to leave and focus their efforts at Holy Family Mission, closer to the reservation on Two Medicine Creek. The Ursulines took over the boys' school, but enrollment dropped to just five boys and 82 girls by 1904. The boys' school and priests' residence were destroyed by fire in 1908. The Ursuline Academy opened in Great Falls in 1912, and the white girls' school was moved from St. Peter's. Mount Angela remained open for Indian girls until it was destroyed by fire in 1918. The post office at St. Peter's remained open until 1938.

A small committee from Sacred Heart Parish in Cascade has since renovated and maintained St. Peter's Church and the cemetery, which remain from the once-thriving mission. Catholic services are still held there once a month.