Cataldo, Joseph Mary, 1837-1928

Joseph M. Cataldo was born March 17, 1837 in Terrasini, Sicily. His youth was marked by frail health and multiple family relocations particularly in response to the 1848 pan-European political turbulence, felt in Sicily as well. In 1852, at the ripe age of 15, he petitioned to join the Sicily Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), based in nearby Palermo. His early training was interrupted by more bad health and removal to Rome in 1860 due to the success of Garibaldi's Sicilian campaign. In 1862, while studying for the priesthood in Louvain, Belgium, Cataldo requested a post-ordination assignment to the Jesuits' Rocky Mountain Mission already established in the Pacific Northwest. Prevailing over the impediments of more weak health, Fr. Cataldo finally arrived at the Jesuits' Sacred Heart Mission in north Idaho in October, 1865.

Fr. Cataldo's appointment as Superior of the Jesuit Rocky Mountain Mission came in 1877, while concluding his efforts to mediate hostilities in the Nez Perce uprising of that same year. The organization he now led had been engaged in missionary activity in the Pacific Northwest for 36 years, and consisted of 38 men, of whom 20 were ordained priests and the remaining 18 were non-ordained assistants, or "coadjutor brothers." Chronically underfunded and understaffed, the Mission faced a bleak future, with many hardship-worn, aging members and no potential new recruits. By 1893, sixteen years later, his replacement inherited an organization totalling 136 men, of whom 54 were priests, 36 were brothers and no less than 46 young Jesuit aspirants in training. This remarkable growth reflects both Cataldo's forceful leadership and the fact that his tenure paralled a transformative phase of settlement in the American West.

Rev. Joseph Cataldo, S.J., was born near Palermo, Italy in 1837, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1852. After his ordination in 1862 he was sent to Boston, MA to continue his studies and to prepare himself for service in the Indian missions of the Rocky Mountains. His first assignment was in California, and in 1865 he came to the Pacific Norhtwest, traveling via the Mullan Road to the Coeur d'Alene Mission, ID. Throughout the next sixty years Rev. Cataldo established or served at missions and churches in Idaho, Eastern Washington, Montana, northeastern Oregon, Alaska, and California. He started the first Catholic Church in Spokane, 1881, and founded Gonzaga University, 1887, also in Spokane.

Rev. Joseph Cataldo, S.J., was born near Palermo, Italy in 1837, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1852. After his ordination in 1862 he was sent to Boston, MA to continue his studies and to prepare himself for service in the Indian missions of the Rocky Mountains. His first assignment was in California, and in 1865, he came to the Pacific Northwest, traveling via the Mullan Road to the Coeur d’Alene Mission, ID. Throughout the next sixty years Rev. Cataldo established or served at missions and churches in Idaho, Eastern Washington, Montana, northeastern Oregon, Alaska, and California. He started the first Catholic Church in Spokane, 1881, and founded Gonzaga University, 1887, also in Spokane.

Jesuit missionary and administrator in the Pacific Northwest.