Page 16 - Flathead Beacon // 12.16.15

NEWS
FEATURE
Father Andrew Maddock points to cracks in the plaster at the St. Ignatius Mission. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
A Magni cent Mural Faces the Ravages of Time The St. Ignatius Mission works to save religious murals painted more than a century ago
SBY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
T. IGNATIUS – Father Andrew Maddock climbed up a set of wobbly stairs and dug into his pocket for his keys. After d-
dling with the old lock, he opened the door and guided two visitors toward the heart of the historic St. Ignatius Mission: the altar.
On a cloudy December afternoon, light shone through the ancient stained glass windows and illuminated 58 murals depicting various biblical stories and characters.
“(These murals) have been here for more than 100 years and they bespeak of God’s grandeur,” Maddock said.
The frescoes are perhaps the most striking part of the historic St. Ignatius Mission, located about 40 miles north of Missoula on the Flathead Indian Reser- vation. And more than a century after an Italian-born Jesuit spent the better part of a year painting the murals, they are falling apart.
Chunks of plaster frequently fall o
a chapel, a few cabins and some work- shops. In later years, boarding schools and a hospital were established there in the shadow of the Mission Mountains.
In 1891, construction began on the Mission’s current church using locally made bricks. It took nearly two years to complete, but when it was done, the church bell tower reached nearly 100 feet into the sky.
When the church was nished, the interior was bare until Brother Joseph Carignano arrived in 1903. Carignano, an Italian who entered the Society of Jesus when he was 20, was assigned to missions in the Paci c Northwest. Carignano pri- marily worked as a cook, but he also had a knack for art and he painted murals in churches, schools and convents across the region, including at St. Francis Xavier in Missoula and the church in St. Ignatius.
The frescoes at St. Ignatius depict scenes from the Old and New Testa- ments. The three most prominent paint- ings, located right behind the altar, show scenes from the life of St. Ignatius Loyola, after whom the mission is named. Above
Father Andrew Maddock shows a chunk of plaster that had fallen from the wall at the St. Ignatius Mission. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
the murals and cracks now crisscross the paintings. Maddock, who has been at the church for 15 years, says something must be done to save the paintings before it’s too late.
Ignatius
The Jesuits founded the St.
Mission in 1854, a year before the Flat- head Indian Reservation was formed. Within a year, nearly 1,000 Native Amer- icans settled near the Mission, which had
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DECEMBER 16, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM