Bishop Frederic Baraga

Bishop Frederic Baraga. . , Born 1797 , Ordained a Priest 1823 , Consecrated a Bishop 1853 , Died 1868 , Proclaimed Venerable 2012, Bishop Frederic Baraga , 1797-1868 , Born in Slovenia and educated in Vienna, Baraga was ordained to the priesthood in 1823. A gifted linguist and scholar, he came to the United States in 1830 and became an authority on Odawa and Ojibwa languages. After a brief stay in Cincinnati, he traveled to Michigan and dedicated himself to the American Indian missions and the region of the upper Midwest., In 1833, Father Baraga came to the Grand River Valley and is seen as the founder of the Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, bringing Catholicism to West Michigan. He opened the Mission of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which became the city's first Catholic Church and the forerunner to the Cathedral of Saint Andrew., He was consecrated a bishop and appointed vicar apostolic of the Upper Peninsula in 1853. When the vicariate apostolic was established as the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie in 1857, Baraga served as its first bishop until his death in 1868. Among his many accomplishments is the Ojibwa-English dictionary, which is still in use today.