St. Ignatius Parish - Portland, Oregon

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Parish History

St. Ignatius Parish has been a part of Portland's history for over 100 years. Below is a brief snapshot of how the parish, school, and Loyola Jesuit Center evolved. This history was compiled by our own Fr. Tom Royce, SJ.

1907: August 2nd: The Jesuits buy 23 acres in SE Portland for $24, 000. Reverend George de la Motte is provincial. November 24th: First Mass is given by Fr. Francis Dillon, SJ, the first pastor, in a storefront at SE 63rd and Holgate. 60 people are present.

1908: September 24th: Blessing of the first church and school at SE 43rd and Powell is done by Archbishop Christie. The school is on the first floor (33 girls and 28 boys) and the church is on the second floor. Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary teach with Sr. Esdras, the school's first principal. [One source says it was Sr. Maxilind.]

1909: Provincial House for the California Province of the Jesuits and a rectory for the parish priest are built next door to the church. A convent for the Sisters is also built.

1918: School grows to 130 students.

1947: Fr. John Keep, SJ begins a campaign for new buildings.

1950: Van Hoomisan house (SE 46th & Powell) is purchased for a rectory. The Provincial House moves to NW Portland and a retreat house is begun on the property of the former Provincial house.

1951: May 20th: Archbishop Howard dedicates the new church with Fr. Schultheis as pastor ($200,000). John Mahoney of Seattle was the architect, and the corpus, statues, and the Stations of the Cross were carved by Hans Schnepf of Wutenberg, Germany.

1953: First unit of a new school is built, as well as a rectory next to the church [The Van Hoomisan house had been moved to SE 46th and Woodward]. The parish priests lived in the new rectory until it became the parish offices. The priests then moved into the Loyola Center where they live now.

1957: A new convent is built for 16 Sisters. The old convent is added to the new structure as a wing.

1961: The second unit of the school is built. Fr. Bradley is pastor.

1963: The old church is torn down and the gym and cafeteria are built with construction costs of $360,000 for four buildings.

1964: September 14: English replaced Latin in the liturgies, and the sanctuary is renovated.

1982: The convent is acquired to become the Jesuit Novitiate, and the Sisters relocate to SE Brooklyn Street.

Compiled by Fr. Tom Royce, 9/22/07

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