In Wilderness Cathedral: The Story of IdahoÕs Oldest Building, historian and Coeur dÕAlene resident Jake Eberlein writes about the story of the Old Sacred Heart Mission and its significance to Cataldo and the larger Pacific Northwest region. Eberlein correctly points out that although this is a history of a single building, the story he tells is really the history of the region.
-From the Foreword
While much is written about religious buildings such as the California Missions or St. PatrickÕs Cathedral, until this book precious little has been written about Sacred Heart Mission in Cataldo, ID.
Historian Jake Eberlein traces the founding of the mission in the 19th century, the struggles and conflicts in building the mission, the changes it survived and the faith of the Native Americans and the Jesuits who served them which stood the passage of time. Wilderness Cathedral is a pioneering historical effort that sheds light on one of AmericaÕs great monuments.