Photo - diocese collection

Bishop Ignatius Mrak

ishop 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.

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

Bishop Ignatius Mrak, Peacemaker
By Father Stanley A. Bur

bout 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