On our way home from a wonderful spring break trip to the Cities this weekend we stopped on Highway 61 to see Baraga Cross at Cross River. The historic marker sign has always intrigued me - so I thought I'd share what's there to see!The plaque on the cross reads: "Father Frederic Baraga, learning of a possible epidemic afflicting the Indians at Grand Portage in 1846, set out in a small boat from Madeline Island in Wisconsin with an Indian guide. An unexpected storm threatened them but their lives were spared when they were blown over the sandbar and into the quiet mouth of Cross River. In thanksgiving they erected a small wooden cross at the site which was later replaced by this granite one.
Father Baraga, born in Yugoslavia in 1897, came to the United States in 1830 and devoted his life to the Indians of the Upper Great Lakes. Consecrated a bishop of Upper Michigan in 1853, Bishop Baraga, whose life was filled with heroism and zeal for souls, died January 19, 1768, and his remains rest in the crypt of St. Peter's Cathedral in Marquette, Michigan."
This priest must be a saint - born 1897, came to the US 1830, made a bishop 1853 and died 1768. Very interesting.
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