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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Spokane’s first Catholic school

Demolition appears to have started on the 1888 Catholic school building that served the children of Spokane’s first Catholic Church, later named the Our Lady of Lourdes church, in this 1966 photo. The church replaced the school around 1906 and this building was used as a convent before falling into disuse. The block, bounded by Main Avenue and Spokane Falls Blvd, Washington and Bernard Streets, had grown up around the old school building before most of the block was cleared before Expo ’74. (THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW PHOTO ARCHIVE / SR)
Demolition appears to have started on the 1888 Catholic school building that served the children of Spokane’s first Catholic Church, later named the Our Lady of Lourdes church, in this 1966 photo. The church replaced the school around 1906 and this building was used as a convent before falling into disuse. The block, bounded by Main Avenue and Spokane Falls Blvd, Washington and Bernard Streets, had grown up around the old school building before most of the block was cleared before Expo ’74. (THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW PHOTO ARCHIVE / SR)

Father Joseph Cataldo was in frail health throughout his life, but he built an immense spiritual legacy across the Inland Northwest.

Cataldo was born in 1837 in Sicily and became a Jesuit priest in 1852. He came to the western United States as one of the first Jesuit missionaries in the region. The sickly young priest arrived in the area around 1865.

Cataldo first encountered Spokane Indians near the falls in September 1866, but they were busy fishing on Crystal Island and not receptive to his Christian message. An Indian man told him to come back when they weren’t so busy. “Try November 1st,” he was told.

Cataldo went on to minister to the Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce Indians, crisscrossing the region on horseback and building new missions wherever possible.

Cataldo became a leader in the Jesuit order and began acquiring land for church projects. Once he was in the leadership of the Jesuit region, Cataldo paid the Northern Pacific Railroad $939 for 320 acres along the Spokane River that would eventually become Gonzaga University and the surrounding neighborhoods. He also bought the land for Mount St. Michael, a church and Jesuit education center north of Hillyard.

Cataldo also bought a lot on Main Avenue between Washington and Bernard streets in 1881. The only building was a 15-by-22-foot carpentry shop, which Cataldo turned into Spokane’s first Roman Catholic Church for white settlers with the addition of a simple cross on the roof. Five people attended the first Mass.

In 1886, the congregation, now called Our Lady of Lourdes, built a conventional brick church on the lot.

In 1888, a school building of two and a half stories was constructed next to the church and operated by the Sisters of the Holy Names.

The growing church laid the cornerstone of the much larger church at Riverside Avenue and Madison Street in 1903. They also built a new school. The first brick church was torn down and the school building was used as a convent for decades before falling into disuse.

Cataldo started a new college in 1887, which was named for a famous Italian Jesuit, Aloysius Gonzaga.

The Sicilian priest who had spent a lifetime of spreading the Catholic faith and tradition through the region died in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1928 at age 92. He is buried at Mount St. Michael, which is now a church and education center.