Distinctly Montana Magazine

L ANOTHER OUSTANDING MONTANA NONPROFIT. ST. LABRE INDIAN SCHOOL BY VIRGINIA BRYAN In 1971, a new church building was completed in the shape of a tipi with a circular floor and stone walls that rise to a peak. In place of the center lodgepole, there is a metal cross. The symbols in the church are adapted from Cheyenne culture and art. The Stations of the Cross, for instance, are in the pocked-rock engraving style of the Plains Indians and are similar to many of the petroglyphs found in Montana and Wyoming. HOW THE "MIRACLE OF ST. LABRE" CAME ABOUT… In March 1884, four Ursuline Sisters from Ohio climbed into a horse and buggy loaded down with supplies and set out from Miles City on an arduous journey. At their destination in present day Ashland, they established a school and mission to serve Cheyenne families wandering homeless and hungry across the Tongue River Valley. Eight years earlier, the Cheyenne and other Plains Indian tribes were victorious at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in their effort to pro- tect lands set aside by various treaties. In the battle's aftermath, the Cheyenne were in disarray, fraught by military struggle, disputes over reservation boundar- ies, the eradication of buffalo herds, and the loss of their nomadic ways. The Sisters acquired a small log cabin and adjacent land along the Tongue River and called it St. Labre, after a French saint remembered for his poverty and simplici- ty. By 1954, only 64 children attended school at St. Labre. Many thought the school would close, but the "miracle" continued. In the next decade, Pryor and St. Xavier mission schools on the adjacent Crow Indian Reservation joined the St. Labre fam- ily. A thriving St. Labre celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2009. Two years later, it dedicated a new dormitory for students who live on campus during the week. ST. LABRE TODAY St. Labre's three schools educate nearly 700 K – 12 students annually. Curricu- lum includes Northern Cheyenne and Crow languages and cultural traditions. Current graduating classes boast a 73% college attendance rate. St. Labre cred- its a focus on the "whole child," his or her educational, spiritual, and cultural needs, and the needs of the extended family for its success. St. Labre is a bright spot on an otherwise often bleak economic and cultural landscape. Yet, nearly one-half of St. Labre's professional staff is Na- tive American. Many St. Labre graduates return home as teachers, nurses, and lawyers or in other capacities, prepared to carry forward the St. Labre's mission of love, faith, and hope. WEB SITE: www.stlabre.org DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL See videos of St. Labre at... www.distinctlymontana.com/stlabre123 www.distinctlymontana.com 73 . . F F O O R e T vo E H .

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