On a bitter January morning in 1831, a young Slovenian priest named Frederic Baraga knelt before his bishop in Cincinnati and asked to be sent to the most remote mission in America. By spring he was paddling a birchbark canoe toward the Ottawa village of L'Arbre Croche on Lake Michigan's northern shore, carrying a crucifix, a few books in half-learned Chippewa, and what he later called "the greatest blessing Divine Providence has ever granted me" — the chance to spend the rest of his life among the Native peoples of the Great Lakes.
He would spend 37 years in this wilderness, snowshoeing hundreds of miles between villages through winters that regularly reached 40 degrees below zero, sleeping in open bark shelters, eating whatever the communities could spare. He mastered both Chippewa and Ottawa, compiled the first comprehensive Grammar and Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language in 1850, and wrote twenty books and prayer guides in Native languages. In 1853 Rome named him the first bishop of the new Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie — a see encompassing the entire Upper Peninsula of Michigan — and he served until his death in Marquette on January 19, 1868. The faithful of the Upper Peninsula simply called him the Snowshoe Priest.
Today a 35-foot brass figure of Baraga rises from five concrete tepees on a bluff above Keweenaw Bay, the cold blue water stretching out beneath him as he holds a seven-foot cross and a pair of snowshoes twenty-six feet long. His cause for canonization was opened in 1952, and on May 10, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable — confirming the heroic virtue of the man who walked into the American wilderness not as a conqueror, but as a servant.
📜 History & Spiritual Significance
Frederic Irenaeus Baraga was born on June 29, 1797, in Dobrnic, in what is now Slovenia, into an aristocratic family of considerable wealth. He studied law before abandoning his inheritance for the seminary, was ordained a priest in Ljubljana in 1823, and worked for several years as a parish priest before writing to the Leopoldine Mission Society in Vienna requesting assignment to the American missions. He arrived in Cincinnati in 1830 and was dispatched almost immediately to the Ottawa at L'Arbre Croche (present-day Cross Village, Michigan).
His arrival among the Ottawa in May 1831 proved decisive. Within months he had achieved a working fluency in their language and had begun composing hymns and prayer books in Chippewa. He founded missions at Grand River (1833), La Pointe on Madeline Island in Wisconsin (1835), and L'Anse on Keweenaw Bay (1843), where he established the mission that would eventually give rise to the town bearing his name — Baraga — just south across the bay. At L'Anse he built a school and a church and drew Ojibwe families from across the Keweenaw Peninsula.
What made Baraga extraordinary was not the founding of missions but the maintenance of them. He refused to remain stationary. In an era before roads connected the Upper Peninsula's scattered communities, he traveled by birchbark canoe in summer and on snowshoes in winter, sometimes covering 200 miles in a single journey to reach an ailing parishioner or administer the sacraments to a dying miner. His physical endurance was legendary: well into his sixties, already serving as bishop, he continued making these arduous circuits through the wilderness.
When the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie was elevated to the Diocese of Marquette in 1857, Baraga became its first bishop and took up residence in Sault Ste. Marie and later Marquette. He died on January 19, 1868, after a brief illness, and was buried in the crypt beneath the cathedral he had dedicated only two years earlier. His Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, published in Cincinnati in 1853, remains in academic use to this day as one of the foundational documents of Anishinaabe linguistics.
The cause for canonization, opened in the Diocese of Marquette in 1952, was formally submitted to the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints after decades of scholarly work, including a positio — the required academic dossier establishing heroic virtue — compiled in part by Chicago engineer Joseph Gregorich, who traveled to European archives to microfilm Baraga's surviving correspondence. Pope Benedict XVI's declaration of Venerable on May 10, 2012, marked the formal recognition by the universal Church that Baraga had lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree. The Diocese of Marquette continues to pray for a verified miracle that would open the path to beatification.
☩ Pilgrimage Sites in L'Anse
Bishop Baraga Shrine
Rising from the Red Rocks bluff above Keweenaw Bay, the shrine commemorates the Snowshoe Priest with a scale that matches the vast landscape he traveled. The hand-wrought brass figure of Baraga — 35 feet tall and weighing four tons — holds aloft a seven-foot cross while a pair of 26-foot snowshoes hangs from his left arm, each snowshoe a symbol of the hundreds of miles he covered on foot. The statue is supported by five laminated parabolic wood beams rising from five concrete tepees arranged in a star 64 feet across, each tepee representing one of Baraga's five primary missions. Sculpted by Lake Linden artists Jack Anderson and Arthur Chaput Jr., the shrine was dedicated on September 16, 1973.
The grounds include a candle grotto, Stations of the Cross, walking trails through the surrounding forest, historical plaques tracing the events of Baraga's missionary journeys, and a prayer garden open year-round. The statue is visible for miles across the bay on clear days. A gift shop and pastry house operated separately on the adjacent private property serves pilgrims and visitors.
St. Peter Cathedral, Marquette
Dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle
The mother church of the Diocese of Marquette stands at 311 West Baraga Avenue — a street named for its first bishop — and was laid out by Baraga himself, who laid the cornerstone in 1864. Constructed of native Marquette brownstone in a Romanesque style with twin steeple domes, the cathedral was dedicated in 1866, just two years before Baraga's death. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, the same year Baraga was declared Venerable, the cathedral draws thousands of pilgrims annually to pray before his tomb.
Baraga's remains rest in a crypt to the right of the main altar, surrounded by large stained-glass windows depicting events from his missionary life. Visitors descend to the crypt level to leave prayer intentions at his tomb and to request his intercession. The cathedral is also home to perpetual Eucharistic adoration.
🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations
Baraga Days — Late August
The annual Baraga Days celebration, held each year on the last weekend of August across the Copper Country — L'Anse, Assinins, Houghton/Hancock, and Eagle Harbor — gathers the faithful for a two-day program dedicated to Venerable Baraga's life and cause for canonization. Evening Vespers, Native American drumming, a candlelit cemetery tour, presentations on Baraga's mission history, and a Mass at the shrine form the core of the observance. The weekend concludes with a banquet and the annual Bishop Baraga Association meeting, at which attendees receive updates on the progress of the canonization cause. Pilgrims are encouraged to visit the multiple historic Baraga sites across the Keweenaw Peninsula during the celebration.
Feast of Venerable Frederic Baraga — January 19
January 19 marks the anniversary of Baraga's death in 1868. Masses and devotions are offered across the Diocese of Marquette, with particular solemnity at St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette, where his remains lie. For pilgrims who can endure the Upper Peninsula winter — conditions that Baraga himself greeted with particular ardor — a January visit to the cathedral carries a special resonance.
🛏️ Where to Stay
Baraga Lakeside Inn ⭐⭐⭐ — The only waterfront hotel on Keweenaw Bay, located 8 km south of the shrine in the town of Baraga. Sixty-eight rooms with lake views, an indoor pool, and an on-site restaurant; the inn sits directly on US Highway 41 between L'Anse and the Keweenaw Peninsula. Website ∙ Reserve this hotel
Motel 41 (guesthouse) — A small, recently renovated motel on US 41 in L'Anse, 3 km from the shrine, offering queen and double rooms with free Wi-Fi. Located directly on the snowmobile trail and close to local restaurants. Website
L'Anse Motel & Suites (guesthouse) — Affordable motel in L'Anse convenient to the shrine and local dining, with standard queen-bed accommodations. Website
🚗 Getting There
By Air: The nearest airport is Houghton County Memorial Airport (CMX) in Hancock, approximately 65 km north of L'Anse via US 41. Marquette's Sawyer International Airport (MQT), approximately 120 km east, offers additional regional connections. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) is approximately 845 km southeast and serves as the nearest major international hub.
By Car: L'Anse lies directly on US Highway 41, the main artery of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. From Marquette, drive west on US 41 approximately 120 km. From the Mackinac Bridge (Mackinaw City), drive north on I-75 and then US 2 west to US 41 north, approximately 330 km total. The shrine itself is accessed via Lambert Road off US 41 between L'Anse and Baraga; GPS navigation to the address may not route correctly, so follow signs for Lambert Road to the parking area.
By Bus: Indian Trails operates bus service to the Upper Peninsula from Detroit and other Michigan cities, with stops in Marquette. Connections west to L'Anse require a rental car or local transport, as no scheduled bus service runs directly to L'Anse.
On Foot / By Snowshoe: In honor of Baraga's own mode of travel, some pilgrims have walked portions of the Keweenaw Peninsula's trail networks. The area around Keweenaw Bay offers hiking trails through the same boreal forest landscape that Baraga traversed in winter.
📚 Further Reading
Books:
James K. Jamison. By Cross and Anchor: The Story of Frederic Baraga on Lake Superior — A narrative account drawn from Baraga's own journals and letters, with over 130 footnotes in the study edition. The most accessible introduction to Baraga's missionary life for general readers.
Regis M. Walling and N. Daniel Rupp, eds. The Diary of Bishop Frederic Baraga: First Bishop of Marquette, Michigan — Baraga's own daybook, kept from the time he learned he might be named bishop, recording missionary journeys, weather conditions, and the daily life of an apostle in the wilderness. (Wayne State University Press, Great Lakes Books series)
Online Resources:
Diocese of Marquette — Baraga Cause for Canonization — Official diocesan page detailing the history and current status of Baraga's cause for sainthood.
Bishop Baraga Association — The official organization supporting Baraga's canonization cause since 1930, with novenas, educational resources, and updates on the cause.
🎥 Recommended Videos
They Might Be Saints — Bishop Frederic Baraga — EWTN documentary episode exploring Baraga's missionary life in the Upper Peninsula, his heroic virtue, and the path toward beatification. EWTN On Demand.
🔗 Useful Links
Bishop Baraga Shrine — Official Site — Information on visiting the shrine grounds, its history, and the Bishop Baraga Foundation.
Diocese of Marquette — Historic Baraga Sites — Diocesan guide to multiple historic sites connected to Bishop Baraga across the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Bishop Baraga Association — Canonization cause updates, prayer resources, educational materials, and the Baraga Educational Center and Museum.
St. Peter Cathedral — Official site for the cathedral housing Baraga's tomb in Marquette.
🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations
Champion, Wisconsin (360 km southwest) — The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin, is the site of America's only Vatican-approved Marian apparition, where the Blessed Virgin appeared to Adele Brise in 1859.
Cross in the Woods National Shrine, Indian River (250 km southeast) — National Catholic shrine featuring a 55-foot bronze crucifix, the largest in the world, set in a white pine forest; visited by 300,000 pilgrims annually.
Holy Name of Mary Proto-Cathedral, Sault Ste. Marie (210 km east) — The oldest Catholic parish in Michigan, founded in 1668 as a Jesuit mission to the Ojibwe; Baraga passed through Sault Ste. Marie many times and is closely associated with this community.
🪶 Closing Reflection
"Happy day which placed me among the Indians with whom I will now remain uninterruptedly to the last breath of my life, if such be the holy will of God." — Venerable Frederic Baraga, Diary entry on arriving at L'Arbre Croche, May 1831
