Mount Saint Michael (''known colloquially as "The Mount"'') is a former Seminary, School, Farm and Retreat for the

Jesuit order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. It was later sold to

Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen ( la, Congregatio Mariae Reginae Immaculatae; CMRI) is a sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation. The CMRI is dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Fátima and the devo ...

(CMRI), a

Sedevacantist Sedevacantism ( la, Sedevacantismus) is a doctrinal position within traditionalist Catholicism, which holds that the present occupier of the Holy See is not a valid pope due to the pope's espousal of one or more heresies and that therefore, for ...

Catholic religious congregation. Sedevacantists are

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, Christian liturgy, liturgical forms, Catholic devotions, devotions, and presentations of Catholic Church, Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church befo ...

s who do not accept the legitimacy of any pope since

John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

. It serves as the home of Saint Michael's Academy and as a parish center for Sedevacanists in the Spokane area. It is staffed by the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

and

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen. The main building serves as the

motherhouse A motherhouse is the principal house or community for a religious institute. It would normally be where the residence and offices of the religious superior In a hierarchy or tree structure of any kind, a superior is an individual or position at ...

for the sisters. The

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

for the priests and brothers is also located on the property in a separate building. Mount Saint Michael is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

Early history

St. Michael's was founded by Father Joseph Caruana as a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

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 now-

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the univ ...

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

, 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 Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

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 Our Lady of Lourdes (french: Notre-Dame de Lourdes) is a title of the Virgin Mary. She is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, o ...

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 The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

. 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 A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The outpu ...

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 closed 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.

Sedevacantist congregation

In 1977, the Jesuits sold Mount St. Michael to the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, led by

Francis Schuckardt Francis Konrad Schuckardt (July 10, 1937 – November 5, 2006) was an American sedevacantist Roman Catholic Episcopi vagantes, independent bishop. Schuckardt is described by Michael W. Cuneo as "the rock-and-roll outlaw of Catholic traditiona ...

. Mount St. Michael served as a boys' school, seminary and rectory for the priests and brothers of the Congregation. Schuckardt was not ordained by the

but by American

Old Catholic The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches or Old Catholic movement designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the undivide ...

bishop Daniel Quilter Brown. Schuckardt founded a sedevacantist congregation at Mount St. Michael, and eventually declared himself the true Pope, before being ousted by other members of the CMRI, on account of credible allegations of grave immorality. Schuckardt was succeeded by Denis Chicoine, Casimir M. Puskorius, and

Mark Pivarunas Mark Anthony Pivarunas (born 31 October 1958) is an American sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic bishop and the Superior General of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI). Biography Early life and family Mark Anthony Pivarunas wa ...

, who is currently the congregation's Bishop. The

Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church is a Roman Catholic religious public association of the faithful in the Diocese of Spokane in Washington. The group was formed by 15 nuns from Mount Saint Michael who were expelled in June 2007 from the ...

was formed under the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane The Diocese of Spokane is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the U.S. state of Washington. Headquartered in Spokane, the diocese encompasses Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, A ...

by 15 nuns expelled from Mount St. Michael in 2007 for rejecting their former group's Sedevacantist teaching.

Today

Mount St. Michael serves a variety of needs for Spokane area sedevacantist Catholics. The east wing serves as a

cloistered A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

residence for the religious sisters. The west wing houses church offices, a religious gift shop with traditional Catholic books and religious goods, a library, and Saint Michael's Academy, a

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired ...

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

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...

Sexual abuse allegations

In September 2002 and January 2003, two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of "roughly 25 plaintiffs" were filed against former Catholic priest Patrick O'Donnell, not a member of CMRI, also naming the Catholic Diocese of Spokane as a defendant for its failure to protect children from O'Donnell. Two of the plaintiffs, brothers Steve and Terry Barber, allege that O'Donnell molested them at the Mount St. Michael Seminary. O'Donnell has admitted to molesting some, but not all, of the plaintiffs.

References

External links