St. Paul’s Mission–Hays, MT

Havre, MT  High 57  Low 47

After a wonderful night’s sleep, we headed further north and west to Havre, MT.

One stop I wanted to make was at St. Paul’s Mission in Hays which is located at the southern end of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

Built in 1898, this Gothic style building replaced earlier log buildings used by the Jesuits as they worked with Gros Ventre and Assinniboine Indians.

As you can see, they were holding a funeral when we arrived so we did not get to see the inside of the mission. Here’s a picture from their website.

Jim took a picture of one of the stained glass windows from outside.

Just down the road from the church is a shine, Our Lady of the Rockies, built in 1931 by Father Feusi and Tom Flack, a German stone carver.

Inside the shrine is a replica of the miraculous statue of Einsiedein, Switzerland. The door is not locked so you can enter and be amazed.

The Story of the Miraculous Statue

In the little Swiss town of Einsiedeln lived an aged and holy wood-carver who had great devotion to the Blessed Mother of God. Towards the close of his life, he desired to carve a statue in honor of our Lady. He spent many laborious but happy hours praying as he carved and making each stroke an act of love for Mary, the mother of God. A few days after the statue had been completed, this holy man died. When his friends came to dispose of his belongings, they saw this beautiful statue and, not wishing it to remain the natural brown of the wood, they decided to paint it and then put it in the village church. That evening many neighbors came to the house of the old wood-carver to watch his two friends paint the statue. The face and arms of the child Jesus and his blessed mother were tinted a delicate pink, the robe of the divine child was colored white and Our Lady’s mantle was made blue. When the work was completed all left for their homes. Late the next day the neighbors came to move the statue to the church. Great was their surprise to find that all the paint had fallen in tiny flakes around the foot of the statue and the image of our lady and her divine son was again just as it had left the hands of the old wood-carver. The people realized this miracle was our Blessed Lady’s way of showing her appreciation of the holy man’s loving work and her desire that the statue should-remain as he had carved it.

We stopped in Fort Belknap for fuel. I really liked their welcome sign.

We are currently at the Hansen Family Campground about 7 miles east of Havre.