Bishops

Bishop Ignatius Mrak

Bishop Ignatius Mrak - Photo diocese collection

Bishop Mrak, second of Marquette from 1922 until 1935.

  • Born October 10, 1810 - Polland in Slovenia
  • Ordained July 1, 1837 - Lubjana, Slovenia
  • Consecrated February 7, 1869 - Cincinnati
  • Resigned Winter, 1879
  • Died January 2, 1901 - Marquette

Bishop Ignatius Mrak, inspired by the letters of Fr. Baraga, came to the United States in 1845 to be a missionary among the Native people.

Bishop Ignatius Mrak, Peacemaker

Photo - Fr. Stanley A. Bur "Bishop Ignatius Mrak, Peacemaker"; These Very Stones Cry Out, Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publisher 1999

By Father Stanley A. Bur

About the year 1885, after the successes of the great Indian Chief Sitting Bull in the Territory of Montana and Wyoming, the Indians of Michigan became restless.

Two couriers from the camp of Sitting Bull had come to Traverse City to meet with all the tribes to declare war on the white man in this region who had invaded Indian hunting territory. Chief Petoskey and Chief Agosha, Chief Blackbird and Chief Redbird, all came with their braves. From Beaver Island came John Cornstalk and from Kewadin came John Ginsway. Even from as far as Cross Village and Little Traverse Bay came Joe Greenleaf and some braves.

They paraded down Traverse City's Sawdust Trail, now known as Union Street, past the stores and settlers' homes, marching in all of their colored and feathered Council of War costumes. They marched past the newly-established Saint Francis convent of the Dominican Sisters out to Boot Lake near the south end of what is now Union Street where the Indians had encamped.

The two tall couriers of Chief Sitting Bull, wearing their eagle feathers, were the center of all the excitement. Fear and panic stalked the community as the smoke of the council fires at the encampment burned and smoldered throughout the day.

A central figure of appeasement in their solemn and stately gathering was a little wiry man who had lived among the Indians of Upper Michigan for nearly 40 years. The chiefs present had experienced Christianity already for several generations and so the influence of Bishop Ignatius Mrak prevailed.

Peace remained as it should among good Christians and the couriers of Sitting Bull, disappointed and bewildered by the peace-loving attitude of their eastern allies, returned to the west. Bishop Mrak had saved the village and the whole settlement of the Grand Traverse area from war and complete destruction by an Indian uprising which never occurred.

Fr. Stanley A. Bur "Bishop Ignatius Mrak, Peacemaker"; These Very Stones Cry Out, Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publisher 1999

Bishop Frederick Eis, 1899-1922

Bishop Frederick Eis, photo - diocese collectio

  • Born January 20, 1843 at Arbach - Germany
  • Ordained October 30, 1870 - Marquette
  • Consecrated August 12, 1899 - Marquette
  • Resigned June 27,1922
  • Died May 5, 1926 - Marquette

Frederick Eis was the last seminarian accepted by Bishop Baraga.

 

Bishop John Vertin, 1879-1899

Bishop John Vertin, photo - diocese collection

  • Born July 17, 1844 - Doblice Parice in Slovenia
  • Ordained August 31, 1866 - Marquette
  • Consecrated September 14, 1879 - Negaunee
  • Died February 26, 1899 - Marquette

John Vertin was the last priest whom Bishop Baraga ordained and the only one he ordained in Marquette

 

Joseph Gabriel Pinten

Joseph Gabriel Pinten

  • Born July 17, 1844 - Doblice Parice in Slovenia
  • Ordained August 31, 1866 - Marquette
  • Consecrated September 14, 1879 - Negaunee
  • Died February 26, 1899 - Marquette

Bishop Joseph G. Pinten was born in Rockland, Michigan, in 1867.  He attended St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee and studied in Rome.  He was ordained November 1, 1890 and returned to the Marquette Diocese and served as pastor of St. Peter Cathedral from 1899 to 1916.  He became a Domestic Prelate in 1912.  Monsignor Pinten headed the Holy Family Orphanage from 1916 to 1922.  He was designated Bishop of Superior, Wisconsin and was consecrated on May 3, 1922 at St. Peter Cathedral.  He was made Bishop of Grand Rapids in 1926.  Retiring on the Golden Jubilee of his priesthood, he returned to Marquette where he lived five years, dying on November 6, 1945

 

Bishop Henry Paul Joseph Nussbaum, C.P.

photo - diocese collection

  • Born September 7, 1870 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Ordained May 20, 1894 Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Consecrated May 20, 1913 - Union City, New Jersey for the Diocese of Corpus Christi
  • Installed in Marquette November 14, 1922
  • Died June 24, 1935 - Marquette
  • Interred in Union City, New Jersey

Bishop Nussbaum, C.P., fifth bishop of Marquette from 1922 until 1935.

 

 

Bishop Joseph Casimir Plagens

  • Born January 29, 1880 at Czeszewo in Poland
  • Ordained July 5, 19m in Detroit, Michigan
  • Consecrated September 30, 1924
  • Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit
  • Installed in Marquette November 16, 1935
  • Transferred to Grand Rapids December 6, 1940
  • Died March 31,1943 in Grand Rapids
  • Interred in Grand Rapids

Bishop Plagens supervised the construction of the present Cathedral. The large east and west windows commemorating the Kingship of Christ and the Queenship of Mary were his special project.

Bishop Plagens (sixth bishop of Marquette from 1935 until 1940) laying the cornerstone of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Fr. Melican is on the left while to the right one can see Fr. Zryd and Monsignor Buccholtz.

 

 

Bishop Francis Joseph Magner, 1940-1947

  • Born March 18, 1887 in Wilmington, Illinois
  • Ordained May 17, 1913 in Rome
  • Consecrated February 24, 1941 in Chicago
  • Died June 13, 1947 in Marquette
  • Interred in Marquette

Bishop Magner was the seventh bishop of Marquette from 1940 until 1947.

photo - diocese collection

 

Bishop Thomas Lawrence Noa, 1947-1968

  • Born December 18, 1892 in Iron Mountain, Michigan
  • Ordained December 23, 1916 in Rome
  • Consecrated March 16, 1946 in Grand Rapids
  • Auxiliary Bishop in Sioux City
  • Installed in Marquette August 20,1947
  • Retired March 25, 1968
  • Died March 13, 1977 in Marquette
  • Interred in Marquette

Bishop Noa officially begins Bishop Baraga's cause for canonization in 1952.

Bishop Noa (eighth bishop of Marquette from 1947 until 1968) enters the Cathedral to be installed as the Eighth Bishop of Marquette.  Msgr. Jodocy is at the left while Msgr. Holland and Fr. Chisholm lead the procession.

 

A throng of school children fill the area between the Cathedral and the Cathedral rectory as they welcome Bishop Noa to Marquette. The Bishop Baraga High School fills the center rear area.

 

P ope John XXIII and Bishop Noa are photographed at the Second Vatican Council.

 

Bishop Noa breaks ground for the Bishop Baraga Gym. To the left is Fr. Charles Carmody, Superintendent of the High School. To the right are Fr. David LeLievre, Msgr. Edmund Szoka (was Archbishop of Detroit), Fr. Raphael Landreville, and Fr. Raymond Garin.

Bishop Charles Salatka,1968-1977

photo - diocese collection

  • Born February 26, 1918 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Ordained February 24, 1945 in Grand Rapids
  • Consecrated March 6, 1962 in Grand Rapids Auxiliary Bishop of Grand Rapids
  • Installed in Marquette March 25, 1968
  • Transferred to Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
  • December 15, 1977
  • Retired November 24, 1992
  • Died March 2003

Archbishop Charles A. Salatka

Archbishop Salatka of Oklahoma City was the ninth Bishop of Marquette from 1968 until 1977.

Bishop Mark F. Schmitt, 1978-1992

photo - diocese collection

  • Born February 14, 1923 in Algoma, Wisconsin
  • Ordained May 22, 1948 in Green Bay, Wisconsin
  • Consecrated June 24, 1970
  • Auxiliary Bishop of Green Bay
  • Installed in Marquette May 8, 1978
  • Retired November 11, 1992; resides in Marquette

Bishop Schmitt was honored as Baraga Man of the Year in 1999.

Bishop Mark F. Schmitt was the tenth bishop of Marquette from 1978 until 1992.

 

Christmas 1981. The modernized sanctuary is shown as Bishop Schmitt and his deans enter in procession.

 

Close view of the new altar as Bishop Schmitt and his deans concelebrate the 1981 Christ Mass.

Bishop James H. Garland, 1992 - 2005

Bishop James H. Garland

  • Born December 13, 1931 in Wilmington, Ohio
  • Ordained August 15, 1959 in Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Consecrated July 25, 1984
  • Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati
  • Installed in Marquette November 11, 1992

Bishop Garland was born on December 13, 1931 in Wilmington, Ohio.  He attended Ohio State University, Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary of the West in Cincinnati, and the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.  On June 2, 1984, Bishop Garland was appointed to the Episcopacy by Pope John Paul II and ordained Titular Bishop of Garriana and Auxiliary to the Archbishop of Cincinnati on July 25, 1984.   Bishop Garland was installed as the eleventh Bishop of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan, on November 11, 1992.