Andraž Arko OFM / Urša Skoberne
A children’s book of the great missionary Bishop Frederic Baraga. This is the amazing story of a young man who gave up everything to come to undeveloped America to teach the First Nations and others about the Catholic faith. He lived amongst them for the remaining 38 years of his life. He even took on the appearance of the First Nation people.He was born on June 29, 1797, in the castle of Mala Vas in Slovenia. Political upheavals in the Austrian Empire unwittingly prepared the young Baraga for his future as a missionary. By the time he was nine years old, he was fluent in the Slovenian, French and German languages. Orphaned at 14, Baraga went on to study law at the University of Vienna and graduated with high honors. Catholicism in the Empire was under the thumb of the Emperor and frozen by the icy winds of Jansenism. Frederic Baraga sought the advice of St. Clement Hofbauer, then living in Vienna, and was greatly moved by this charismatic man. Baraga’s decision to study for the priesthood, work for religious reform in his own diocese, work with the Indian missions in America, and write prayer books can all be traced to Hofbauer’s influence.
