Mother Bottego (1895-1980) was born Celestine Healy Bottego to an Italian father and Irish mother. She lived in Butte at 505 South Montana Street from 1896 to 1910 in the Travona District of town. Bottego's heritage represents the ethnic melding unique to Butte and her residence coincided with the height of Butte's mining fame. Celestine's early childhood was spent happily attending St. Patrick's School and Church while her father worked locally as a miner.

At age fifteen,Celestine moved with her family to Parma, Italy, where she later founded the Xaverian Missionary Society of Mary. Her extraordinarily kind, giving spirit and lifelong devotion to helping others have been recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, which is currently considering her for sainthood. Although Mother Bottego never returned to Butte, she carried a picture of St. Patrick's Church with her until she died in 1980 and attributed her initial call to religion to her formative years in town.

With the generous help of the Town Pump, which originally had intended to raze the property at 505 South Montana for a casino, the Mother Bottego House now resides at 250 West Copper Street, the property of Cindi and Bill Shaw. With its new vista of the city, the Shaws will run the Mother Bottego House as a nonprofit organization dedicated to Bottego's life and her contribution to Butte's rich history. The house will be open to the public as a museum and available upon request as a spiritual retreat.

Mother Bottego House in the News News story from the Montana Standard Xaverian Missionary Nuns Visit the Home

Additional Information What is canonization? Our Lady of the Rockies