Venerable Frederic Baraga's History
Venerable Bishop Frederic Baraga, first bishop of the Diocese of Marquette (from 1853 until 1868), was the first of many Slovenian missionaries to come to the United States to help build up the American Catholic Church. Baraga's two successor bishops in Marquette, Most Reverend Ignatius Mrak and Most Reverend John Vertin, attribute their missionary vocations to him as well. The seminarian, St. John Neumann, was inspired to come to America after reading Baraga's missionary accounts in Berichte, a publication of the Leopoldine Missionary Society in Vienna.
Frederic Baraga was born on June 29, 1797 in the castle of Mala vas in the Northwestern part of Slovenia. Political upheavals in the Austrian Empire unwittingly …show more content…
PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI

Pier Giorgio Michelangelo Frassati was born in Turin, Italy on April 6, 1901. His mother, Adelaide Ametis, was a painter. His father Alfredo, was the founder and director of the newspaper, “La Stampa," and was influential in Italian politics, holding positions as an Italian Senator and Ambassador to Germany.
At an early age, Pier Giorgio joined the Marian Sodality and the Apostleship of Prayer, and obtained permission to receive daily Communion (which was rare at that time).
He developed a deep spiritual life which he never hesitated to share with his friends. The Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin were the two poles of his world of prayer. At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to serving the sick and the needy, caring for orphans, and assisting the demobilized servicemen returning from World War I.

He decided to become a mining engineer, studying at the Royal Polytechnic University of Turin, so he could “serve Christ better among the miners," as he told a …show more content…
On the eve of his death, with a paralyzed hand he scribbled a message to a friend, asking him to take the medicine needed for injections to be given to Converso, a poor sick man he had been visiting.
Pier Giorgio’s funeral was a triumph. The streets of the city were lined with a multitude of mourners who were unknown to his family -- the poor and the needy whom he had served so unselfishly for seven years.Many of these people, in turn, were surprised to learn that the saintly young man they knew had actually been the heir of the influential Frassati family.
Pope John Paul II, after visiting his original tomb in the family plot in Pollone, said in 1989: “I wanted to pay homage to a young man who was able to witness to Christ with singular effectiveness in this century of ours. When I was a young man, I, too, felt the beneficial influence of his example and, as a student, I was impressed by the force of his testimony."
On May 20, 1990, in St. Peter’s Square which was filled with thousands of people, the Pope beatified Pier Giorgio Frassati, calling him the “Man of the Eight