Frederic Baraga - Priesthood

Priesthood

Baraga attended law school at the University of Vienna prior to entering seminary. At age 26, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on September 21, 1823 in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas by Augustin Johann Joseph Gruber, the Bishop of Ljubljana. As a young priest, he was a staunch opponent of Jansenism. During this time, he wrote a spiritual book in Slovene entitled Dušna Paša (Spiritual Sustenance).

In 1830 Baraga answered the request of Bishop Edward Fenwick of Cincinnati for priests to aid in ministering to his growing flock, which included a large amount of mission territory. A year later he was sent to the Ottawa Indian mission at Arbre Croche (present-day Cross Village, Michigan) to finish his mastery of the Ottawa language, which he had begun in Cincinnati. It is one of the Algonquian languages.

In 1823, he published Otawa Anamie-Misinaigan, the first book written in the Ottawa language, which included a Catholic catechism and prayer book. After a brief stay at a mission in present-day Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1835 Baraga moved north to minister to the Ojibway (Chippewa) Indians at La Pointe, Wisconsin, at a former Jesuit mission on Lake Superior.

In 1843 Baraga founded a mission at L'Anse, Michigan. During this time he earned the nickname “the Snowshoe Priest” because he would travel hundreds of miles each year on snowshoes during the harsh winters. He worked to protect the Indians from being forced to relocate, as well as publishing a dictionary and grammar of the Ojibway language. Although these works have important historical value, they are not recommended as basic resources for the language today.

Through the texts Baraga published in his missionary years, the Slovenes learned about aspects of Native American culture and the United States.