Join Bishop Walsh and other faithful from Michigan for Baraga Days 2024!
Beginning on Friday, Sept. 13 with vespers at St. Mary Cathedral in Gaylord, this event will offer the opportunity to learn more about Bishop Baraga's legacy and pray for his canonization. Activities will continue through Saturday, Sept. 14.
Learn about Bishop Baraga's legacy.
Pray for his canonization.
Walk where he walked.
RSVP for the Baraga Days Banquet and Annual Meeting here.
Promotional Materials: Color, BW, Half Page, Flyer
Friday, Sept. 13
7 pm | Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral (606 N Ohio Ave, Gaylord) |
7:30 pm | Vespers (during Adoration) |
8:15 pm | Benediction |
8:30-10 pm | Fellowship with music and refreshments. |
Saturday, Sept. 14
9 am | Morning Mass at St. Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral (606 N Ohio Ave, Gaylord) Very Rev. Timothy Ferguson- preside and preach |
9:30-10:30 am | Private blessings (individual) with the Baraga Crucifix Light refreshments (Parish Hall) |
10:30-11:30 am | Presentation: Venerable Bishop Baraga's work in the Diocese of Gaylord St. Mary Cathedral Parish Hall |
12-5pm | Sightsee in Gaylord and tour diocesan sites where Bishop Baraga ministered (on your own) |
5 pm | Baraga Days Mass- St. Mary Cathedral, Gaylord Most Rev. Jeffrey Walsh - preside and preach Most Rev. John Doerfler- concelebrant |
6 pm | Baraga Days Banquet and Annual Meeting St. Mary Cathedral Parish Hall *banquet immediately following Mass |
Walk Where Bishop Baraga Walked
Visit these sites in the diocese where Bishop Baraga ministered. Staff tours are available from 11 am – 3 pm on Saturday, Sept. 14.
1. St. Francis Solanus Indian Mission --- 420 W Lake Street, Petoskey (37 miles)
This church is one of the oldest wooden buildings in Michigan’s lower peninsula.
Bishop Baraga’s diary reads …June 8, 1859…I offered Mass at Trotochaud’s (home) and preached. “Trotochaud gave me an acre of land on which I shall build a small church, 30 by 20 and 12 feet high. It was completed for dedication in 1860. The church has undergone several preservations, the last carefully restoring its historic integrity.
2. St. Ignatius Catholic Church --- 101 N Lamkin Rd, Harbor Springs (60 miles)
After Fr. DeJean, Fr. Baraga arrived in response to the Christianized Odawa request to Washington to send them a ‘blackrobe’ (priest) to educate and ‘civilize’ them. They knew this was their only hope to remain on the land which they had sold. Fr. Baraga’s church has been replaced twice, yet this site is ancient with artifacts from Baraga’s time, and its graveyard is especially interesting.
3. Holy Childhood of Jesus --- 150 W Main Street, Harbor Springs (50 miles)
The old church was originally built in 1829 from hand hewn logs squared and carried to the site by as many as 30 men. A school with attached room for the priest was built at the same time. Fr. Baraga was the second priest to serve the mission from 1831-33. Tour the school room replica and see Bishop Baraga’s Ottawa prayerbook.
4. L’Arbre Croche Museum --- Fr. Al Parish Hall at Holy Cross, 6624 North Lakeshore Dr.,
Cross Village (65 miles)
This historical museum has three-rooms of artifacts from the Ottawa Indians; the early settlers; and brothers and sisters from the Benevolent, Charitable and Religious Society of St. Francis. See the handiwork of the Native Americans, the history of Company K, the presence of the area Native Americans sharpshooters in the Civil War, and farm instruments from the early settlers and the brothers /sisters from the convent.
5. Holy Cross --- 6624 North Lakeshore Dr., Cross Village (65 miles)
The first church on the bluff was built in 1742 and rebuilt by Fr. Baraga in 1833. The pews in Holy Cross Church are from the days of Baraga; they are from first-cut timber. The altar came from old Ste. Anne’s on Mackinac Island and was sledded over on the ice. A restorer said the colored glass roundels set in the windows are very old and likely a purchase of Fr. Weikamp. In 1858, Fr. Weikamp built a 100-bedroom convent in Cross Village and started the Benevolent, Charitable and Religious Society of St. Francis. The brothers and sisters who lived there were lay religious seeking a way of life out of the mainstream.
