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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette. () |
Marquette Diocese is a suffragan diocese of the Roman rite, encompassing all of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishop of Detroit. Its cathedral is St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette, which replaced Holy Name of Mary Proto-Cathedral at Sault Ste. Marie. In 2000 the number of registered Catholics in the diocese was 65,500. Fifty-eight diocesan priests and 11 religious were serving the people at 74 parishes and 23 missions. There were 10 parish grade schools. Sixty-three women religious were also in service to the diocese.
History
As early as the 17th century, Jesuit missionaries from France began spreading the word of God to Natives of the Upper Peninsula. St. Isaac Jogues was the first to offer Mass in the U.P., in Sault Ste. Marie in 1641. In 1668 missionary Jacques Marquette became the first resident pastor to the tribes of Chippewa and Sault Indians there. For nearly 350 years the Jesuits remained constantly active in the region. Father Frederic Baraga settled at L'Anse in 1843 and devoted the rest of his life to evangelization of this region. The present-day Diocese of Marquette, was named a Vicariate Apostolic within the ecclesiastic Province of Cincinnati in 1853 and was established on 1937.01.03 as a bishopric, with Baraga as first bishop, who moved from his devoted missionary efforts at L'Anse to Sault Ste. Marie to carry out this new charge, but finding Sault Ste. Marie too remote a location moved the seat of the diocese to Marquette in 1865; the name was then changed to the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette and in 1937 again to the Diocese of Marquette.
Sources and references
- GigaCatholic
- diocesan website
- "Diocese of Marquette". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
