Mount Saint Michael
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- For the historic Benedictine Abbey in Normandy in France see Mont Saint Michel
Mount Saint Michael (coll. "The Mount") is a traditional Catholic church compound in Spokane, Washington. It serves as the home of Saint Michael's Academy and as a parish center for traditionalist Catholics in the Spokane area. It is staffed by the priests, brothers and sisters of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI). The main building serves as the motherhouse for the sisters. The motherhouse for the priests and brothers is also located on the property in a separate building. Mount Saint Michael It is listed as a National Historic Place by the National Park Service.
[edit] History
St. Michael's was founded by Father Joseph Caruana as a Jesuit mission just north of Spokane in the mid-19th century to serve the Native Americans in the area. In 1878, Caruana's successor, Father Joseph Cataldo, moved the mission to its current location with a purchase of almost 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land at the price of $2 per acre. From 1881 until 1915, Mount St. Michael was used primarily as a farm, supplying Gonzaga College with fresh produce and dairy products.
In the spring of 1915 construction began on a scholasticate to accommodate the rising number of vocations to the Jesuit order at the cost of $400,000. Father Arthuis, who had just completed St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church at Gonzaga University, was placed in charge of construction. He built a railroad 1100 feet (340 m) in length to convey building materials up the 320 foot (98 m) bluff. The four story Tudor-Gothic building was built in the shape of a “T” and contained a chapel, dining room, kitchen, gymnasium, physics and chemistry labs, lecture halls and residences for the scholastics.
In the 1920s a grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was built by one of the Jesuit brothers in fulfillment of a vow. Mass is offered at the outdoor chapel and faithful often gather here to pray the Rosary.
In 1929 work began on the three-story west wing. The new wing housed another 100 students and contained the new library. In 1930 a seismometer from Gonzaga University was moved to a basement laboratory at Mount St. Michael, where seismologists kept careful records of seismic activity. Mount St. Michael soon gained international acknowledgement as an important seismographic center.
At this time the 700 acre (2.8 km²) farm provided all the food needed for the seminary. Jesuit brothers, farmers, tailors, bakers, cobblers, bee keepers and horticulturists, saw to the material needs of the community and the formation of the candidates placed in their charge. It was said to be one of the finest Jesuit houses of study in the world.
In the 1960s the Jesuit order experienced a drastic drop in the number of vocations and Mount St. Michael close its doors as a scholasticate in 1968. For the next ten years, Mount St. Michael served as a residence for retired Jesuit priests and as an ecumenical prayer and retreat center.
In 1977, the Jesuits sold Mount St. Michael to the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen. Mount St. Michael served as a boys' school, seminary and motherhouse for the priests and brothers of the Congregation.
In the early 1980s Mount St. Michael was shaken by scandal as allegations of sexual abuse as well as the cult-like nature of the group and its leader Francis Schuckardt surfaced in the media. In 1984 Schuckardt's second-in-command, Denis Chicoine, ejected him and was consequently excommunicated by Schuckardt (WA Case 84-2-01445-2). There was swown testimony by a California Detective, however, that the Aryan Nations was at the Mount observing military drills performed by the Mount's Brigade. (Calif. Case 87-12258)
[edit] Today
Mount St. Michael serves a variety of needs for Spokane area traditional Catholics. The east wing serves as a cloistered residence for the religious sisters. The west wing houses church offices, a religious gift shop with hundreds of traditional Catholic books and religious goods, a voluminous library stacks and Saint Michael's Academy, a K-12 school for boys and girls.
A chapel located on the second floor serves as the parochial and school church and is used for the solemn celebration of the sacred liturgy in the traditional Latin rite.
