The Incarcerated Child and St. Ignatius Mission Schools
Kristy Bixler, Zoe Dansie, and Madison Haynes
Boarding Schools and Child Incarceration
“. . . . the white man had concluded that they only way to save Indians was to destroy them, that the last great Indian war should be waged against children. They were coming for the children” (Adams). This quote exemplifies the way in which Boarding Schools were used as a form of control over Native Americans. In much the same way that the government now targets African Americans for much higher rates of incarceration, Native children were taken from their families in order to control the population. There are claims that it was a voluntary choice for Native families to send their children to these Boarding Schools, but as Francis Burke told the Missoulian “My mom said they threatened to put her in jail if they didn’t send me” (Florio, “Anguish”). Boarding Schools were not a choice for Native Americans, they were a deliberate tool used by the United States Government to subdue the population.
Indian Boarding Schools
“Kill the Indian, and Save the Man.” — Capt. Richard H. Pratt
In 1875, a group of seventy-two Native Americans from Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Chaddo Nations, were sent to Fort Marion, near St. Augustine, Florida, to be imprisoned under the visage of Indian War veteran, Richard H. Pratt. Despite the original intent to incarcerate the group, Pratt, having commanded Indian scouts during his military service, wished to attempt European assimilation rather than penal punishment. In order to accomplish such a task, Pratt immersed the Indian members in white culture, prohibiting the practice of their native language, the wearing of traditional garb, and instilling Christianity into their everyday lives: “Christianity, Pratt believed, was an important element in becoming part of the European community” (Clarke Historical Library). Operating as an experiment of sorts, Fort Marion laid the groundwork for what would later become Pratt’s “prison school” vision.
In 1878, the War Department closed Fort Marion due to the belief that conditions on the plains were placated enough to allow the return of the Indian prisoners to the west. Of the seventy-two members, twenty-two, on behalf of Pratt’s advice and advocacy, voluntarily decided to continue their education at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia and other Eastern schools. Pratt himself worked at Hampton, and in 1879, Pratt convinced the Secretary of War to permit him the opportunity to build an independent Indian school at the abandoned military post in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
On November 1, 1879, Carlisle Industrial Training school opened and began functioning as an isolatory establishment where children were wholly separated from their families and culture in order to initiate complete assimilation. As with Fort Marion, Carlisle banned native speech, clothing, and religion, applying strict punishment if orders were not followed. Fashioned on military lifestyle, the school practiced “cadet-like training to teach the English language, basic academics, industrial training focused largely on agricultural skills, the importance of hard manual labor, and the need for remunerative employment” (CHL). Pratt, too, utilized an “outing system” in which students were lent out to individuals to perform labor in exchange for small wages. Despite these inclusive teachings and efforts, the school and its processes caused multi-generational rifts and trauma among its students and their families.
Government officials viewed Carlisle as a proactive system that held the potentiality to subdue the violent Indian campaigns in the west, while others saw it as a humanitarian opportunity to incorporate Indians into European society. Carlisle, then, became an exemplar for Indian education that was founded on military subjugation and cultural oppression. In 1887, the General Allotment Act, also known as the Dawes Act, included the the Carlisle model into government policy, furthering the persecution of Native Americans and the injustices aimed at their beings and lifestyle.
Following Carlisle, twenty-four other Indian boarding schools emerged across the U.S. along with missionary day schools. In 1854, the St. Ignatius Mission in St. Ignatius, Montana, was established, setting the stage for the building of the Ursuline Academy and St. Ignatius Mission School, the locations of countless instances of sexual, physical, mental, and emotional abuse.
Brief History of St. Ignatius Mission
“They never wanted to go to the school. They didn’t have a choice.” — Gwen Florio, Missoulian
The incarceration of Native American children in Montana began with Jesuit missionaries. Drawing from a scholarly work by Gerald Lee Kelly, which delves into the Mission’s holy impact on Native Americans, it is apparent that after a series of failed missions, including the closure of St. Mary’s, the Jesuits eventually founded the St. Ignatius Mission in the valley of the Mission Range in northwestern Montana in 1854. In 1864, following the arrival of four Sisters of Providence, both a day school and a boarding school for Native American girls opened. In addition to academic subjects, the Sisters at the girls’ boarding school taught gardening, housekeeping, and sewing. In 1878 an industrial and agricultural boarding school for Native American boys was opened, in which they were taught field work, milling, shop work, and printing. By 1892 the school had reached peaked enrollment, comprised of 325 students. These children were allowed only short vacations and actively encouraged to not return home at all. It was during this time that runaways became extremely common, and in turn, harsh punishments were adopted by the school. If caught, a student could be expelled, whipped or put in jail. At times when the whippings were severe, parents actively came to the school to take their children away. Several fires were started by students at the school, one of which destroyed the boys’ school in 1896. Following a cut-off of government aid, an increased interest in public schooling, and the destruction and closure of several facilities, enrollment decreased dramatically over the years. All schooling was turned over to the Ursuline Sisters in 1941, and the school adopted a co-ed practice. Following this period of transition, a darkness settled over the school. Nuns and priests alike committed unforgivable atrocities that would follow these children for the rest of their lives.
Lawsuit
“They must be doing something to him, which is why he keeps running away.” — Grandfather of John Doe 2
In 2011, 45 men and women who were students at the Ursuline Academy/St. Ignatius Mission School sued the school for suffering physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. 16 John Does and 29 Jane Does filed specific claims against the nuns and sisters working at the Ursuline Academy/St. Ignatius School and priests working at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, the St. Ignatius Parish, and the St. Xavier Mission. Each of the plaintiffs were minors at the time of the sexual abuse, and therefore could not be named in the court case. Furthermore, according to Blaine Tamaki in a Missoulian article from September 27th, 2011 “‘What makes this intolerable, was that these were some of the most vulnerable children, Native Americans, who were trapped at these residential schools’” (Florio).
The students at this school suffered countless abuses from several sources including Mother Superior Loyola, Brother Rene Gallant a.k.a and hereafter referred to as Brother Charlie, Sister John, Father Balfe, and other members of the Ursuline Academy/St. Ignatius Mission School, and other priests. One of the aspects to this case that sets it apart from other cases filed against churches for sexual abuse is that the abusers included nuns and sisters rather than just priests.
These are some of the stories from the court case. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
John Doe 1 suffered physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of Mother Superior Loyola, Sister John, and Father Balfe. Mother Superior Loyola would take John Doe 1 to her bedroom and expose herself to him, forcing him to perform oral sex on her. As an altar boy, John Doe 1 helped out with mass, after which Father Balfe would sexually abuse him, including penetrating his anus.
John Doe 4 entered the Ursuline Academy/St. Ignatius Mission School at age 6 and left by age 12. During this time, Mother Superior Loyola touched John Doe 4 inappropriately, including masturbation and progressed to having intercourse with him.
John Doe 8 was a boarding student at the school from 1957–1960. During this time he was forced to perform oral sex on Mother Superior Loyola in her bedroom. Brother Charlie sodomized the plaintiff on at least 5 occasions. Mother Superior Loyola would send him to perform chores at Father Balfe’s house where the plaintiff would be sodomized and raped.
Jane Doe 2 was only 6 years old when she arrived at the Ursuline Academy. Due to the sexual and physical abuse she encountered at the hands of Brother Charlie, she developed a bed wetting problem. Whenever the plaintiff wet the bed, she would be taken to the bath by Sister Marion who would then fondle and penetrate the plaintiffs vagina while praying for her.
Jane Doe 4 was at the Academy from 1954–1962. During this time, Father Augustine Ferreti a.k.a Father Freddy sexually abused her, holding her on his lap and masturbating against her body and penetrating her, claiming that he was praying inside of her.
Read the full Case here:
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/complaints/2011_10_05_John_Does_1_16_v_Ursulines_and_Helena.pdf
Final Thoughts
“People hate us belittling our town and our church, but they don’t know what we went through.” — Leland “Jimi” Hawankorn (Florio, “Anguish”)
The Ursuline Academy and St. Ignatius Mission School functioned as day and boarding institutions where Native children were sent in order to acquire a white, Christian, and European education. Efforts to assimilate the students involved isolation from their Native culture; students were forced to shave their heads, wear European garments, practice Christianity, and speak only English. If students faltered in their education or behaved poorly, they received strict reprimand, oftentimes the punishment being sexually, emotionally, and physically abusive in nature. As Blaine Tamaki explains, “Instead of being taught how to read and write, these children were taught distrust and betrayal” (Florio, “Lawsuit”).
The nuns, priests, and sisters of the St. Ignatius Mission exploited their power, using their positions to bribe children with money, food, and protection in exchange for sexual encounters:
(17) Father Freddy digitally penetrated Plaintiff Jane Doe 19 on numerous occasions and then would provide food for her to take home to her family.
(18) Father Freddy would tell Plaintiff Jane Doe 21 that if she didn’t do what he said “something bad would happen to your family,” or “the Lord will be mad.”
(20) Father Sullivan propositioned Plaintiff Jane Doe 28 to have sex with him in exchange for $20.00.
These experiences extend into countless moments of corruption and maltreatment at the hands of those who the St. Ignatius Mission children were supposed to trust and rely on. Within the lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, forty-five plaintiffs came forward and shared their stories in hope of compensation, closure, and healing. Those listed, though, represent a small portion of the innumerable unheard voices of Native Americans who suffered abuse and trauma while at boarding and mission schools.
The history of Montana and its Native people are important, especially when it entails the cruel injustices exercised against tribes, their children, and their culture. In order to provide understanding and shed light on St. Ignatius’ painful past, victims’ stories must be recognized and acknowledged. As Franny Burke, a former St. Ignatius Mission School boarding student states, “[The abuse] is always going to be in the back of my mind. But getting it public makes it feel like something is being done and it’s not being forgotten” (Florio, “Anguish”).
Other Pictures
References
Adams, David. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience 1875–1928. Lawrence, Kansas. University Press of Kansas. 1995. pp 33
“Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.” Jim Thorpe Student File | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/additonal-resources/location-indian-boarding-school-throuhgout-united-state http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/additional-resources/location-indian-boarding-school-throughout-united-states
“Clarke Historical Library.” Admissions Requirements | Central Michigan University, www.cmich.edu/library/clarke/ResearchResources/Native_American_Material/Treaty_Rights/Contemporary_Issues/Federal_Education_Policy/Pages/default.aspx
Florio, Gwen. “Anguish Has Never Healed for Natives Physically, Sexually Abused at St. Ignatius Mission.” Missoulian, 5 June 2011https://missoulian.com/news/local/anguish-has-never-healed-for-natives-physically-sexually-abusedat/article_69bdf266-8f27-11e0-aa65-001cc4c002e0.html
Florio, Gwen. “Lawsuit Filed Alleging Sexual Abuse by Nuns at St. Ignatius Mission.” Missoulian [Missoula, MT], 27, September 2011, https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/lawsuit-filed-alleging-sexual-abuse-by-nuns-at-st-ignatius/article_ad8e68aa-e93f-11e0-a029-001cc4c03286.html
John Does 1–16 and John Does 17–100; and Jane Does 1–29 and Janes Does 30–100 v. Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province, a non-profit organization, aka Ursuline Western Province; The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, a non-profit organization, aka Helena Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church; ABC corporation 1–10, Defendants John Doe A-M and Defendants Jane Doe N-Z, ADV-2011–936, B.L Tamaki (Montana First Judicial District Court. 2011)
Kelly, Gerald Lee. History of St. Ignatius, Montana. 1954, University of Montana, MFA, https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3587&context=etd
Landis, Barbara. The Great Chief Joseph and Gen. Oliver Otis Howard Meet at the Carlisle Indian School, 1904, home.epix.net/~landis/histry.html. https://home.epix.net/~landis/histry.html