Explore Slovene Museum of Christianity

Archive of Missionary and Bishop Friderik I. Baraga

 

Friderik Irenej Baraga (1797–1868) was born in the small town of Mala vas near Dobrnič in the Dolenjska region. He studied law in Vienna and later theology in Ljubljana. As a young priest, he was first chaplain in Šmartin near Kranj and later in Metlika. A wish to become a missionary came true in 1830 when he went on a missions among the Indians in the Great Lakes region of North America. He became the first bishop of the diocese of Cincinnati, Ohio. His first episcopal office was in Sault Ste. Marie, and later at Marquett, where he was also buried in 1868. Friderik Baraga has written several religious books in Slovene. His basic works are the grammar and dictionary of the Otchipwe language and prayer books for the Otchipwe and Otawa Indians.

baraga-knjiznica-03
baraga-knjiznica-02
 
 
 
 

The Slovene Museum of Christianity keps the archives of the missionary and bishop Friderik Irene Baraga. A collection of original book editions, objects and correspondence of the missionary and bishop Friderik Irenej Baraga (1797–1868) and a collection of Slovene emigrant literature from the USA, Canada, Argentina and Australia have been collected and arranged by the Salesian priest Karel Ceglar (1912–1999), who lived in Canada after the Second World War.