Mount Saint Michael

Last updated

Mount Saint Michael
Mountstmichael.jpg
Mount St. Michael
USA Washington location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location8500 N. Saint Michael Rd.
Nearest city Spokane, Washington
Coordinates 47°43′53″N117°20′29″W / 47.7315°N 117.3413°W / 47.7315; -117.3413
Built1915–1917
Architect Julius A. Zittel
Architectural style Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No. 00000456
Added to NRHPMay 5, 2000

Mount Saint Michael (known colloquially as "The Mount") is a former Seminary, School, Farm and Retreat for the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic Church in Spokane, Washington. It was later sold to Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI), a Sedevacantist Catholic religious congregation. [1] Sedevacantists are traditionalist Catholics believe that all pontiffs after Pius XII are false popes due to perceived error taught in the Second Vatican Council.

Contents

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 priests, brothers and sisters of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen. The main building serves as the motherhouse for the sisters. The rectory 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 by the National Park Service. [2]

Early history

St. Michael's Mission Church St. Michael's Mission Church, Mount St. Michaels, Hillyard, Spokane County, WA HABS WASH,32-HILYA,1-2.tif
St. Michael's Mission Church

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 now-Gonzaga University 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 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. [1] 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 Roman Catholic Church but by American Old Catholic bishop Daniel Quilter Brown. Schuckardt founded a sedevacantist congregation at Mount St. Michael, and eventually declared himself the true Pope, [3] before being ousted by other members of the CMRI, on account of credible allegations of grave immorality.[ citation needed ]

Schuckardt was succeeded by Denis Chicoine, Casimir M. Puskorius, and Mark Pivarunas, who is currently the congregation's Bishop. [1]

The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church was formed under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane by 15 nuns expelled from Mount St. Michael in 2007 for rejecting their former group's Sedevacantist teaching. [1]

Today

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

Sexual abuse allegations

In September 2002 and January 2003, two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of "roughly 25 plaintiffs" [4] 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. [5] O'Donnell has admitted to molesting some, but not all, of the plaintiffs. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedevacantism</span> Belief that the Catholic Church no longer has a pope

Sedevacantism is a traditionalist Catholic movement which holds that since the death of Pius XII the occupiers of the Holy See are not valid popes due to their espousal of one or more heresies and that, for lack of a valid pope, the See of Rome is vacant. Sedevacantism owes its origins to the rejection of the theological and disciplinary changes implemented following the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Pivarunas</span> American Catholic sedevacantist bishop

Mark Anthony Pivarunas is an American sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic bishop and the Superior General of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditionalist Catholicism</span> Catholic religious movement

Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Traditionalist Catholics particularly emphasize the Tridentine Mass, the Roman Rite liturgy largely replaced in general use by the post-Second Vatican Council Mass of Paul VI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen</span> Sedevacantist organization

The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen is a sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation. The CMRI is dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Fátima and the devotion of the practice of Total Consecration to the Virgin Mary as taught by Saint Louis Marie de Montfort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn</span> Diocese of the Catholic Church

The Diocese of Brooklyn is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the U.S. state of New York. It is headquartered in Brooklyn and its territory encompasses the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Diocese of Brooklyn is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of New York. The diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn and its co-cathedral is the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights. The current Bishop of Brooklyn is Robert J. Brennan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate</span> Catholic missionary order

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation was given recognition by Pope Leo XII on February 17, 1826. As of January 2020, the congregation was composed of 3,631 priests and lay brothers usually living in community. Their traditional salutation is Laudetur Iesus Christus, to which the response is Et Maria Immaculata. Members use the post-nominal letters, "OMI".

The Society of Saint Pius V is a traditionalist Catholic society of priests, formed in 1983, and based in Oyster Bay Cove, New York, United States. The society broke away from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) over liturgical issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon</span> Latin Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Oregon, USA

The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western Oregon in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Schuckardt</span> American Traditionalist Catholic independent bishop

Francis Konrad Schuckardt was an American Traditionalist Catholic independent bishop.

Clarence James Kelly was an American traditionalist Catholic bishop. He was a co-founder of the Society of Saint Pius V and the founder of the Congregation of Saint Pius V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Michael's Academy, Spokane</span> Co-ed, private, boarding school in Spokane, Washington, WA, United States

Saint Michael's Academy is an American day and boarding school for boys and girls from kindergarten through twelfth grade located in Spokane, Washington, United States, and administered by the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, a Sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William S. Skylstad</span> American Roman Catholic Bishop (born 1934)

William Stephen Skylstad is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane in Washington State from 1990 to 2010. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Yakima in Washington State from 1977 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Cataldo</span> Italian-American Jesuit priest and missionary (1837–1928)

Joseph Mary Cataldo was an Italian-American Jesuit priest, a pioneer missionary in the inland Pacific Northwest, who also founded Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.

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 Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen because they no longer accepted their former congregation's Sedevacantist teachings. The groups was approved in 2008 by Spokane Bishop William Skylstad after reconciling with the Roman Catholic Church.

Bernard Joseph Topel was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane in Washington State from 1955 to 1978.

Robert Louis Whelan was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks in Alaska from 1969 to 1985.

Francis Doyle Gleeson was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks in Alaska from 1962 to 1968, previously serving as vicar apostolic of the Alaska Vicariate from 1948 to 1962.

Alfred Leo Abramowicz was an American prelate in the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois from 1968 to 1995.

Martín Dávila Gandara is a Mexican Catholic sedevacantist bishop. He is the bishop of the Sociedad Sacerdotal Trento.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Graves, Jim (October 19, 2012). "The Return to Rome, Five Years Later". The Catholic World Report. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  2. ↑ National Register Digital Assets
  3. ↑ Noel S. Brady. "Charges shed light on church: Eastside 'cult' is likely hiding members accused of sex abuse, police say". King County Journal, November 25, 2005.
  4. 1 2 De Leon, Virginia (September 24, 2009). "Priest admits to abusing boys". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  5. ↑ De Leon, Virginia (January 31, 2003). "New abuse suit filed". The Spokesman-Review (no longer available at Spokesman-Review site; reprinted at www.kosnoff.com). Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.