Old Mission State Park, National Historic Landmark in Cataldo, United States
The Mission of the Sacred Heart is a church of wattle and daub over a wooden frame, built 1850–1853 by Coeur d'Alene workers under Jesuit Antonio Ravalli and finished without nails. Its walls are hung with Hudson's Bay Company fabric and a hand-painted Philadelphia newspaper; tin cans serve as chandeliers, and two knife-carved wooden statues imitate marble.
The church was built between 1850 and 1853 and was the first permanent structure in Idaho. It emerged from the work of Jesuits who established a mission in the Coeur d'Alene region.
The name Cataldo, often applied to the whole mission, comes from Father Joseph Cataldo, a Sicilian Jesuit who founded Gonzaga University in Spokane and was not the builder. The mission served as a rest and supply station on the Mullan Road and a port for boats on the Coeur d'Alene River. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe later renamed the site Old Mission State Park.
The grounds feature walking paths and interpretive signs that explain the history of the site. Visitors should plan time to explore both the interior of the church and the surrounding landscape.
The blue tint of the interior wood comes from pressed huckleberry stains, not paint. Father Antonio Ravalli carved both wooden statues with a knife and finished them to look like marble. The walls were also decorated with fabric bought from the Hudson's Bay Company and a hand-painted newspaper from Philadelphia.
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