USA > Michigan > Marquette County > Marquette > History Of The Diocese Of Sault Ste, Marie And Marquette; Containing A Full And Accurate Account Of The Development Of The Catholic Church In Upper Michigan, With Portraits Of Bishops, Priests And Illustrations Of Churches Old And New, Volume 1 > Part 17
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"You say that my See in the Sault is out of the centre of the diocese. But that is not correct. You are thinking only of my Northwestern missions at Lake Su- perior ; but I have almost as many mis- sions, though not so populous, in the southern part of my diocese at Lake Michigan : Alpena (where a large church is now being built), Point St. Ignace, Mackinac, Beaver Harbor, Cross Village, Little Traverse, and Grand Traverse, with five or six missions. All these would complain and feel hurt were I to remove my episcopal See to Lake Superior. An old Latin proverb says :
"Si in qua sede sedes, Et tibi commoda sit ista sedes,
In ista sede sede,
Neque ab ea recede.
"We shall therefore continue sitting on our old seat until death takes us off from it.
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a heretic or perhaps an infidel; Père Mar- quette was a saintly missionary 'cujus memoria in benedictione est.' Secondly, Marquette is a pleasant, quiet and central place, with many means of communica- tion. My God, what is this? I can scarcely write any more; my right hand is lamed. Oh, do use the St. Scholastica Remedy for my right hand; otherwise I will soon be unable to write." 2 To obtain the required permission for this transfer, Bishop Baraga wrote to the Archbishop of Cincinnati and to Rome exposing the exact position of his diocese. From Rome he received the following papal decree.
"Our most Holy Father, Pius IX, by divine Providence Pope, having referred to him by the undersigned Cardinal-Pre- fect of the Propaganda Fide, after ma- ture deliberation, the question, submitted by the bishop of Sault Ste. Marie in the United States of America, concerning the congruity and utility of transferring his See from Sault Ste. Marie, which lies on the extreme border of his diocese and is proportionately a small town, decreas- ing annually and most difficult of access in winter time, to the city of Marquette, which is centrally located, a larger town and growing from year to year, easy of communication by rail and other public ways; having also taken notice of the commending letters of his Metropolitan, the Most Reverend Archbishop of Cin- cinnati, has allowed the proposed transfer and approved of by his Apostolic author- ity in an audience given on the 23d day of October 1865. He commands, how- ever, that with the new title assumed, the old one of Sault Ste. Marie be retained
and has ordered this decree instead of a Brief to be issued.
Given in Rome from the offices of the Propoganda Fide, day and year as above. Gratis and without tax whatsoever.
AL. CARDINAL BARNABO, Prefect. 3
Announcing the papal decision, Baraga writes to Father Jacker under date of December II, 1865 :
"REV. FR. JACKER: The answer from Rome has arrived. The Holy Father al- lows me to remove my episcopal See to Marquette ( not to Hancock ), but I am to retain the former title, 'Marianopolita- nuts,' besides the new one 'Marquettensis.' Very strange. Such an answer I had not expected. I shall therefore remove to Marquette, but I will never use the two titles, except when writing to Rome. On all other occasions I will always write: Bishop of Upper Michigan." +
To the Leopoldine Society Baraga wrote his last letter from the Sault March
" SSmus Dnus Noster Pius Divina Providen- tia P. P. IX. referente me infra scripto S. Con- gregationis de propaganda Fide Card Prae- fecto, mature perpensis quae per' episcopum Mar- ianopolitanum ( Sault Ste. Marie ) in Statis Foed- eratis Americae exponebantur de congruitate et utilitate transferendi Sedem suam de oppido Sault Ste. Marie quod jacet in extremitate dio- ceseos et in proportionem parvum est oppidum, quotannis decrescens, difficullimumque accessus tempore hiemali, ad urbem Marquette quae jacet in c .tro jam vere major est et quotannis crescit, facillimaeque communicationis ob vias ferreas aliasque vias publicas; visaque annuentia R. P. D. Archiepiscopi Cincinnatensis ejus Metropoli- tani qui petitionem commendat ; propositam trans- lationem probavit. atque Apostolica Sua Auctor- itate firmavit ex Audientia diel 23, Octobris 1865. Voluit tamen ut novo titulo assumendo vetus Mar- ianopolitanus addatur, ac praesens decretum loco Brevis expediri mandavit. Datum Romae ex Aedibus d. S. Congnis die et anno supradicto. Gratis absque ulla omnino solutione quovis ti- tulo.
AL. CARD. BARNABO, PRAEF. Archives Marquette. ‘ Verwyst, p. 358.
2 Verwyst, p. 357.
1
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as yet but little settled. Public roads Dwyer and Walsh were left as assistants have been built everywhere, on which a in Hancock, Father Orth at the Cliff Mission and Father Burns in Houghton. person can travel and ride in winter as well as in summer. There are railroads there in operation, and others are being 1866. constructed. Hence, I remove my epis- copal See from this lonesome Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette, which is far more favored. I, therefore, request the Rev- erend Directors of the Leopoldine Soci- ety to direct, hereafter, their letters to me to Marquette, Lake Superior, Michi- gan.
"I do not know how the winter is in Europe; with us here it is extremely cold. The thermometer of Fahrenheit, which we use, is generally 10, 20, 30 degrees be- low zero, and twice it sank to 40 degrees. The French priest who is stationed here, and who in his youth was in Russia, says that even in Russia the thermometer does not fall to 40 degrees below zero.
"Our mission affairs go on prosper- ously, thanks be to God. The number of my missionaries increases, and new churches are being built from time to time, because the population in the coun- try keeps on continually growing. Our churches, it is true, are but of wood and small in comparison with churches of old countries, still they are houses of God and serve the same purpose for which large and magnificently built churches are con- structed." 5
In May, Baraga ordained in the St. Ann's church at Hancock Revs. William Dwyer and Edmund Walsh.
On the 12th of July Rev. Mathias Orth was ordaind in the Sault and on the 8th of August Rev. John Burns. Fathers
With the advent of spring Bishop Baraga made preparations for his de- parture from the Sault. To our regret we have not been able to ascertain the date of his leaving, but we know that it was early in May. There was no dem- onstration at either end; at the Sault it was scarcely known until the boat was leaving the harbor, and in Marquette the citizens, Catholics and Protestants, alike were anxious to honor him by a public reception, but he absolutely forbade any attempts. He simply habilitated himself in his new place. The new environment evidently pleased the Bishop. The church was new and spacious, the residence at least as comfortable as the one he had left, the people congenial and above all, he found Marquette most convenient for the visitation of his diocese. Under date of August 4th he writes to the Leopol- dine Society his first letter from Mar- quette and alas! his last with his own hand. He says :
"In my last report I mentioned that with the approbation of the Holy Roman See I had transferred my episcopal See from Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette, be- cause communication is much easier with Marquette than with Sault Ste. Marie, especially during winter. Marquette is named after one of the first and most zealous Jesuit missionaries of this coun- try. It is a neat little city situated on Lake Superior; it is small as yet, but growing rapidly. This summer about forty houses are being built.
" Annalen XXXVI.
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.
March 19th, had invited and likewise ad- monished, all Prelates and all those whose duty and right it is to be present, to convene on the first Sunday in October in Plenary Council. Despite his old age and the great distance, Baraga resolved to attend the Council. To provide an administrator during his absence, the government of the diocese was entrusted to Father Jacker who came to Marquette in September. Father Broun, who had left the diocese and had joined that of Cleveland, O., was replaced in Eagle Harbor by Father Burns from Hough- ton, and he in turn was replaced by Fath- er Vertin who also received the charge of the French and German in Hancock, during Father Jacker's stay in Marquette. As the Bishop could ill afford to take more than one priest from the diocese he selected only Rev. Honoratus Bourion, to accompany him as his theologian. They started by way of Chicago for Baltimore. For his second theologian Baraga nomi- nated a Rev. Joseph Behn. Bishop Bar- aga was present at all the preliminary meetings and also assisted at the open- ing and the first solemn session on Sun- day, October the 7th in St. Mary's Cathe- dral of Baltimore. The following day, being the eighth of October, he sustained a stroke of apoplexy and was removed to the St. Agnes Hospital. Aware of his merits and his advanced age, the Fathers of the Council advised him to remain in the warmer climate and suggested to him a coadjutor cum jure successionis. Agreeable to the latter suggestion he named at their request, Rev. Ignatius Mrak as dignissimus, Rev. John Čebul as dignior and Rev. Augustus Kohler S. J., as dignus, but he stubbornly refused to
listen to the friendly advice to remain from his diocese and started for home in his enfeebled condition. After a fatig- ing journey he reached Marquette and was confined to his bed and room for several months before he could even cele- brate holy Mass. On January 28th 1867 he sends, through Father Jacker, the fol- lowing report to the Leopoldine Society in Vienna :
"Hitherto I enjoyed continually good health, but at the beginning of the Plen- ary Council of Baltimore a great sickness befell me, which still continues and rend- ers me unfit for all business. A German paper has published the following account of my sickness :
" 'The Apostolic Delegate, Archbish- op Spalding, then took his seat on the platform before the altar and the Council was opened with the prescribed prayers and hymns, after which Rev. Dr. Keough, one of the secretaries, read the decrees for the Council. The archbishop then requested the people to pray for Rt. Rev. Bishop Baraga, who was very sick at St. Agnes' Hospital. Divine service concluded with giving the Apostolic Benediction. We regret to be obliged to state that Rt. Rev. Bishop Baraga, whose diocese embraces the Northern Peninsula of Michigan, besides the adjacent islands, was struck with apoplexy in the archie- piscopal residence and now lies in a criti- cal condition at St. Agnes' Hospital. . As we were informed the Rt. Rev. Prelate was found unconscious in the corridor near the stairs and it is believed that he fell down some steps when he was struck with apoplexy. The episcopal cross has somewhat injured his breast. Several eminent physicians treat the Venerable
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number of Sisters in the above-named places is about twenty-five. In three places the schools are supported by the respective congregations. For the Sis- ters at the poor Sault Ste. Marie I must contribute annually four hundred dollars, and in addition to this, I had considerable outlays for repairs of buildings. The three Sisters at L'Anse receive a little from the government, the other expenses have to be borne by the poor missionary, who is supported by me." "
April 3, 1867 Bishop Baraga writes to the same society :
"The state of my health for the last six months remains unchanged, unfortunately. I am so weak that I can scarcely move or speak so as to be under- stood. I rise every morning and walk from time to time up and down in my room in order to rest easier in bed after- wards. When one sees or hears me, he would think that I could not live a week longer. Yet I continue to live and wait for my successor, who is to come this summer.
"For the last four months I have been unable to say Mass ; but I will use all my strength to read Mass on Holy Thursday and to consecrate the Oils.
"As to my diocese, all places are sup- plied with priests. There are now twen- ty-one priests in the diocese, and only when new settlements spring up will there be need of more priests. What a differ- ence between now and the beginning of the diocese! At that time there were only two priests here and the Holy Sacri- fice had to be offered for the most part in private houses; now there are twenty-one priests and there are churches in all the 7 Berichte der Leopoldinen Stiftung XXXVII.
larger settlements. Only in case of new mines being discovered, it will be neces- sary to build more churches. Our churches are built at the expense of the respective congregations, but the bishop must still contribute the most. We are well sup- plied with schools, every congregation having one, which is kept either by Sis- ters or by secular teachers. Moreover, the missionaries have less fatigue and hardships to endure than formerly, when the few priests that were here had to travel long distances on bad roads. Now they do not need to travel so far, and the roads are mostly good and almost every- where there is an opportunity to travel either by water or land." 8
June 28, 1867, he writes :
"About two months ago I wrote last and spoke, among other things, about the state of my health. I mentioned that I needed some assistance, especially this year, because my moving from Sault Ste. Marie, my former episcopal See, was ac- companied with many expenses, and be- cause here in Marquette a heavy debt re- mains on the newly built cathedral, so that instead of drawing a revenue from it, as most bishops do, I am obliged to make considerable contributions towards paying the debt and procuring such things as are yet necessary. Moreover, my sickness has cost me much and does so still every day; I have been so sick for nine months that I can neither read Mass nor say my breviary, nor scarcely speak. "The priest who has charge of this con- gregation, labors hard, especially in in- structing the children. Last Sunday was first Communion, there being about fifty communicants. In order to prepare them
8 Ibidem.
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well for so holy an act, the missionary not only instructed the children here but also visited once a week three settlements, five miles from here, in order to gather and instruct the children there. At the same time he had devotions every even- ing during Lent, at which he preached in different languages.
"The church we have here is the best and the largest of the diocese; but it has cost much. The contract was made for eight thousand dollars; but with the stone foundation, which was not included in the contract, and other additions and im- provements, the whole amounts to four- teen thousand dollars. The creditors hold me liable and are pressing me for payment. I am thus in a very painful situation, and ask most urgently for abundant assistance. This petition is very urgent, for I have never been in such a predicament before. Sick as I am, and to be continually pressed by creditors, whom I am unable to satisfy, is sad in- deed. I beg of you, therefore, most earnestly to help me in my need." 9
The last letter dictated by Bishop Bar- aga and written by Father Jacker, to the above society, resounds with the most touching appeal for pecuniary help. Whether this appeal was materially an- swered before the saintly Bishop closed his eyes upon all that is material, is not known. The letter bears the date of 26th of July, 1867.
"Last year about this time I received a draft from you through Messrs. Brauns & Co. This year I have as yet received nothing from Vienna. I entreat you most urgently not to abandon me in my need.
I was never so much in need of help as I am just now. My sickness of ten months, from which I still suffer, and my old debts which I cannot pay, make me truly unhappy. If I do not receive help this year from Vienna, I do not know how it will go with me. I still have to govern the diocese; my successor will not come this year. He who was recom- mended primo loco has declined. Hence other names will have to be sent to Rome, in order that the Holy Father may choose from among them.
"I beg of you once more very urgently not to abandon me this year." 10
The good Bishop might have been led to believe that the "first" on the list for the coadjutorship had declined the honor. But such was not the case. First of all it took a long while before "Acta et De- creta" of the Council were forwarded to the Propaganda, and then, we know, that Rome is never in a hurry. The good Bishop was dead five days, when Cardi- nal Barnabo penned the answer to the petition for the appointment of the coad- jutor, and then it was in the negative be- cause the necessary information about the personalities of the candidates had been omitted.11
And this is correct, because the Fa- thers of the Council. as it were, justifying the omission, say: "In the petition, how- ever, for the Coadjutor to the Bishop of
10 Ibidem.
11 Duo tantum animadvertenda supersunt :
I. E. E. P. P. quamvis designationem Coad- jutoris cum jure successionis Episcopo Mariano- politano et Marquettensi admiserint. personae tamen electionem differi mandarunt donec ad normam Questionarii accurata singulorum Candi- datorum informatio ad S. Congregationem mit- tetur. S. C. de P. Fide, die 24. Januarii 1868. Al. Card. Barnabo. Praefectus. Acta et Decreta Sacrorum Conciliorum Recentiorum. Collectio Lacensis, 1875, p. 389.
º Ibidem.
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Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette, that venerable Prelate, could really not, on ac- count of the serious sickness by which he was stricken during the Council, fur- nish the required information about the candidates, nor was there any one else who could supplement the defect.12
Thus the saintly Bishop Baraga parted this life without knowing who his succes- sor should be. He died on the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, the 19th day of January A. D. 1868. Rev. Father Jacker who was present, gives us the following particulars :
"When I wrote the last time to the directors of the Leopoldine Society, at the request of Rt. Rev. Bishop Baraga, he was still able to sign the letter with a trembling hand. Now this hand rests in the grave !
"The long sickness of the beloved pre- late, or rather the gradual decline of his vital forces, which began to manifest itself very much some years ago, and which slowly brought him nearer and nearer to his blessed end, ended with several weeks of great pain. Since New Year the pious sufferer spent most of his nights sleepless. In the night before Epiphany severe pains and difficulty of breathing came upon him, so that it was considered necessary to administer to him the Sacraments of the dying. This con- dition lasted several days. An apparent improvement of health followed, but it was only the forerunner of the gradual
extinguishing of the vital forces. Still the dying Bishop retained the use of his mental faculties to his last moments, and even when his tongue was unable to articulate, he tried to make known his wishes and orders partly by writing, partly by signs, in which he succeeded in most instances, though only after great efforts.
"At two o'clock in the morning of the 19th of January, 1868, on which day the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus fell in that year, he exhaled his pure soul after an agony of only a few moments.
"The cold season of the year made it possible to postpone his solemn obsequies so long that at least some priests of the diocese were able to arrive in time to attend. On the 3Ist of January we buried our good Father in a vault con- structed for that purpose in the basement of the Cathedral. Only six priests were present. But the large church could not hold the crowds of people of Marquette and the surrounding country. Not only Catholics of different nationalities were present, but also the majority of the Protestant population, who by common agreement stopped all work on that day and vied with the flock of the deceased Bishop in manifesting their appreciation of his great virtues and merits.
"Thus ended a man whose purity of soul and singleness of purpose, whose mortified life and burning zeal, joined to uncommon talents and acquirements, faithfully and successfully employed in the service of God and of the most aban- doned of his creatures; a man whose extraordinary achievements as a pioneer of Christianity will not allow his memory to pass away as long as souls capable of
12 In postulatione tamen Coadjutoris pro Epis- copo Marquettensi et Marianopolitano, ob in- firmitatem gravem qua, vel ineunte Concilio, erat venerandus ille Antistes correptus, haud potuit illam quam oportebat suppeditare de candidatis notitiam, nec aderat alius qui defectum supplere posset. Tit. XIII. Con. Balt. II. Coll. Lacensis, P. 543.
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the snow, all that ut Christi lucrum gentiles. He was so glad of his dis- faciat. Oh life full of merits! what covery that after having come home again for a little rest and at the same time to get more wine for Mass, he start- ed alone to run back to his new conquest. It was far from the Sault, but when it was to go to rescue a soul he never count- ed the distance. At last he arrived, after having slept many nights in the snow. He assembled them and told them the good tidings that he was bring- ing to them, and after a few days he bap- tized the chief and all the tribe and came home again happy to bring back so many spoils that he had taken from Satan and he re-entered the Sault Ste. Marie dragged on a car of triumph. The Bishop, half frozen, was sitting on a little sleigh about two inches higher than the ground dragged by a small Indian dog. I hap- pened to look through the window, and when I saw my Bishop with such an attire I could not help weeping. It is there, Monsignor, that I saw that the dis- ciple was not greater than the Master. Our Lord indeed in His travels used to ride on an ass but our Bishop was per- fectly satisfied to have a dog for riding. But why should I go farther ? It would take a whole volume to transcribe all the interesting circumstances of the life of our Bishop. Besides we cannot anti- example for us! Though we, poor priests, seem sometimes obliged to do some- thing that would appear hard to others, living in a civilized and populated coun- try: if we compare our hardships to what our deceased Bishop had to undergo during the thirty-six years he passed among the Indians, we are almost ashamed of ourselves and we look as so many pygmies by the side of a giant. How many times indeed was he not three or four days without eating whatever, when following the Indian tribes to the hunting places, the game, their only resource to sustain life in the middle of the woods, was deficient. How many times did he not travel in six or seven feet of snow, three or four hundred miles: obliged to climb on his hands and feet over the steep rocks of the elevation of Lake Superior? How many times was he not obliged to cross rivers, obliged to go in water up to his neck, and in his drip- ping clothes continue his trail amid all kinds of obstacles? Do not believe, Mon- signor, that he used to do that only in the beginning of his career, or at least when he was well and strong. Six years ago I was priest of the Cathedral at Sault Ste. Marie. The Bishop was then sixty-six years of age and his health had greatly cipate. I hope soon for the edification of the shepherd and flock, that the life of Bishop Baraga will be written and print- ed to perpetuate the memories of him whom we shall regret as long as we shall live. failed. The winter was extraordinarily severe and we had about six feet of snow. Newly arrived from France, I would scarcely go out of the house myself on account of the cold. But the Bishop, the longest time he spent in his residence during that winter was two weeks. The rest of the time he went from one wig- wam to another, visiting his Indians yet
The sickness which has terminated fatally the life of our departed Bishop began three years ago. That sickness. the shaking palsy, has been the con-
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sequence of his hard life. It attacked at first the arms and the legs, afterwards the heart and soon carried devastation
through the whole system. Had the
Bishop at the beginning of his sickness retired and kept away from trouble he would have lived longer, but his nature unused to inactivity could never rest. Though tormented day and night and fatigued on account of his excessive and perpetual shaking he never relaxed his obligations. In summer he visited all his congregation as usual, wrote himself all his correspondence, administered his
diocese as if his health had been just as good as ever. What was for him a decisive stroke was the attack of apoplexy
that he had the third day of the Plenary Council of Baltimore. A few days be- fore starting for Baltimore he had had already a kind of attack, but it was only the foretaste of the other severe attack which would have terminated his life at Baltimore, had not God provided for the only remedy at the same time that he fell. His pectoral cross upon which he fell, by inflicting a severe wound near the carotid artery and causing the blood to flow abundantly saved him from an instan- taneous death. God had heard his prayers, he had to come up and die, as he used to say, in the midst of his flock. That reminds me of the answer he made me one day at the hospital of St. Agnes in Baltimore. I used to go to visit him before and after sessions of the Council, and once at the request of some bishops, I gave him to understand that it would be better for. his health should he stay the rest of his life in a milder region than Lake Superior, that his stiffened and already cold limbs would not stand very
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