St. Francis Xavier Mission (St. Xavier, Mont.)

Other than two brief encounters with Fr. De Smet in the early 1840s, Jesuits extended no missionary outreach to the Crow Indians until the 1880 visit of Fr. Peter Barcelo, S.J. Primary credit for establishing the mission goes to his fellow Jesuit, Fr. Peter Prando, however. Prando first cultivated his relationship with the tribe through periodic visits, 1883-1886, from his residence at St. Labre [Cheyenne] Mission. When the Jesuits received government permission in 1886 to locate a mission on the Crow Reservation, Frs. Prando and Grassi moved quickly to select its site. Construction work began early the following year, and by September a school was opened, in care of the Ursuline Sisters. Through the benefaction of Katherine Drexel, a new chapel and second school house were completed by years end, 1888. The student body grew to 150, and government funding was acquired to subsidize a maximum 120 students, each at $180 annually. In 1892, a second mission was opened at Pryor, on the Crow Reservation's eastern edge, to serve the Plenty Coups band which had settled there. This St. Charles Mission was closed in 1898, however, as public funds for Indian "contract schools" were being phased out. That sad event had been preceded only weeks earlier by the death of Fr. Francis Andreis, who drownded while enroute from Pryor to St. Francis Xavier.

From the description of St. Francis Xavier Mission records, 1887-2006. (Graham Public Library). WorldCat record id: 535880574