Baraga is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. When you get to the head of Keweenaw Bay of Lake Superior, you see the Shrine of Bishop Baraga overlooking it in all its beauty. Towering thirty-five feet on the Red Rock Cliffs, it's hard to miss. When I see it, I know I'm home again, because Baraga is my home town. Though it doesn't seem like much, the population of Baraga County is just over eight thousand, seven hundred people, Baraga has quite a history. In it rests the reservation of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which has over three thousand tribal members.
             In my essay, I will cover Bishop Frederic Baraga's history and his missionary work, mostly centered in the Copper Country of Michigan. I also want to discuss the major influences he had on the Native Americans of the Chippewa tribe.
             Irenaeus Frederic Baraga was born in Slovenia on June 29, 1797. He came from a wealthy family, had an excellent education in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and at the University of Vienna where he studied law. Baraga could understand five languages. After he graduated, he renounced his engagement to be married, and decided to become a priest. He was ordained in 1823.
             Baraga answered a mission call in 1831 and traveled to America. His intention was to minister the Native Americans of the Upper Great Lakes region. He started in Arbre Croche, Wisconsin. There he established his first church and labored at the conversion of the Ottawa's for two years and four months, baptizing five hundred and forty seven Indian adults and children. He then moved eastward along the south side of Lake Superior and established five missions altogether. Grand River (1833) and LaPointe (1835) were also in Wisconsin. His next mission, L'Anse, brought him to Michigan in 1843 and Sault St. Marie in 1853.
             In L'Anse, Baraga told the Native American Chippewa's of his religion and how the other Indians o...