Tour our Beautiful Mission!
Self-Guided Tours
The Mission was listed as a national historical site in 1973 and is open 9am to 5pm seven days a week, for self-guided tours.
The Mission in St. Ignatius consists of four buildings: the 1891 church, the original 1854 log church and residence, the 1864 Providence Sister’s residence, and the 1960 Rectory. The most predominant of the buildings is the church itself. Construction began in 1891 and took two years to complete. All materials were sourced locally with the bricks made from local clay and trees milled on site.
The interior of the church contains fifty-eight murals painted over a fourteen-month period in 1904-1905. The artist was a Jesuit Brother who served as the Mission cook. Brother Carignano, SJ, (1853-1919), with no professional training in art, completed the paintings between his regular duties as the Mission cook and handyman. The paintings depict scenes from Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, and the lives of the saints. The triptych behind the main altar show the three visions of St. Ignatius of Loyola for whom the Mission (and town) are named.
St. John Berchmans
St. John Berchmans church was constructed next to where the old Agency was located in the Jocko Valley next to the Jocko Cemetery.
The original church was built in 1884 and burned down in 1958. The current church, also dating from the mid 1880s, started out as the private chapel of the Jesuits Community in St. Ignatius. It was moved to Jocko in 1961 and given a new exterior, while the original altar and décor were left intact. The wood ceiling carvings were made by a gentleman (unfortunately, his name is lost to history) who carved decorative ceilings for Pullman Rail Company. The carvings are of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Christogram ‘IHS’. The ‘IHS’ stems from the first three letters of the Greek spelling of the name of Jesus; IH∑OYE, (iota-eta-sigma). In this depiction, we also see the Cross as the center of all things and the three nails of the Crucifixion.
*The interior of the church can be viewed at Mass in the summer at 11:30am on Sundays.
Our Museum
The St. Ignatius Museum is housed in the original log church dating to 1854.
Fr. Adrian Hoecken decided to move the Mission from łq̓ełml̓š (Wide Cottonwoods) - Lake Pend d’Oreille - to Snyel̓mn (Place Where You Surround Something) -St. Ignatius- at the invitation of Chief Tmɫx̣ƛ̓cín (No Horses - Alexander) of the Upper Kalispel tribe of the Salish peoples. The log church, which was also the home for the Jesuits, now contains the museum which contains Mission artifacts and religious goods.
Hours of Operation:
Memorial Day to Labor Day:
Monday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Providence Sister’s House
The first residence of the Sisters of Providence, it moved to its present location in the summer of 1976. Given to the Sisters by the priests, and people of the Mission in 1864, it has served as a convent, school, and hospital. The Sisters have now given it back, to be used as a museum, with exhibits of the history of their work here, as well as the Ursuline Sisters.
