Joseph Mary Cataldo (March 17, 1837 – April 9, 1928) was an Italian-American Jesuit priest, a pioneer missionary in the inland Pacific Northwest,[1] who also founded Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
Cataldo then opened a small schoolhouse at Saint Michael's Mission where both Native American and white students attended.
[6] In order to expand the mission, he was able to purchase two parcels of land totalling 320 acres (1.3 km2) for $936.
[7][8] Cataldo never retired; into his 90s he served the Nez Perce people at Slickpoo near Kamiah, Idaho.
[9][10] He died at age 92 at the Umatilla Indian Reservation, east of Pendleton, Oregon, on April 9, 1928.