Diocese of Marquette Collection

Fonds

Identifier: DMA

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence and papers of Ignatius Mrak; transcripts of letters written by Ignatius Mrak and Frederic Baraga; catechisms composed by Ignatius Mrak, Francis X. Pierz, and N.L. Sifferath in Ottawa or Ojibwa; a manuscript dictionary of French, German, and Indian; and a biography of Bishop Baraga in Slovenian.

Also printed material donated by Bishop Mrak, including national songs of Austria and Hungary printed in Hungarian and German, a Slovenian treatise on the making of charcoal, a poem by Professor Frank concerning the burning of a town near Laibach, the home of Baraga and Mrak, songs, Positiones ex Institutionibus Philosophae Universae (1808), and two clippings, "Father Kelly Raps Critics of Marquette" (1962) and "Marquette Controversies" by August Relyling.

Dates

1808-1895 (bulk 1839-1895)

Creator

Catholic Church. Diocese of Marquette. (Organization)

Language of Materials

German, Ojibwa, Latin, English, French, Slovenian, and Hungarian.

Background

In 1853 the area of Upper Michigan came under the jurisdiction of the missionary Frederic Baraga, Vicar Apostolic. In 1857 the Vicariate became the Diocese of Sault Saint Marie, with the transfer of the see to Marquette coming in 1864. Baraga served as first bishop and Ignatius Mrak (1818-1901) as his Vicar-General. Mrak, born in Austria and ordained in 1837, arrived in the Diocese of Detroit in 1845.

He worked first at the Indian mission at Arbre Croche with Rev. Francis Pierz (1785-1880), who had come to the United States from Carniola (Slovenia) in 1834. Later he served mission stations at La Croix, Middletown, Castor Island, and Manitee. Mrak became the second Bishop of Marquette in 1869. In 1878 he resigned, was appointed Titular Bishop of Antinoe, and returned to his work in the Indian missions.