DescriptionIn 1886, Jesuit priests Urban Grassi and Peter Paul Prando visited the Crow tribe to select a site for a permanent mission. They returned the following year, cleared a 9-by-12-foot patch of snow, and pitched a tent, where they lived for 8 months. They named the mission after Saint Francis Xavier, sixteenth-century cofounder of the Jesuits. The “Black Robes” had a significant influence on the Crow people, who were at that time in transition from a hunting and gathering existence to an agrarian way of life on the reservation. In 1887, the simple frame school was completed. Ursuline sisters arrived, and by Christmas 50 students were attending the school. The simple wood-frame mission church dates to 1888 and is still in use. The 1889 rectory was moved 38 feet, onto a new foundation, in 1970. The little complex of buildings, listed in the National Register, continues to serve as the Catholic mission on the Crow Indian Reservation.Personal NamesGrassi, UrbanPrando, Peter PaulOther Name(s)St. Xavier MissionContributing InstitutionMontana Historical Society Library and ArchivesGeolocation[1] Elevation3067 ft.CountyBig Horn County
