St. Peter Cathedral, Marquette

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St Peter Cathedral is a large Roman Catholic church located in Marquette, Michigan, on Baraga Street, the mother church of the Diocese of Marquette. It is also one of the most notable marks of Catholic presence in the Upper Peninsula. The church, as we see it today, is nothing like it first was, when a Jesuit priest named Father Jean-Baptiste Menet held services on the site in a small log cabin.

Upon Bishop Frederic Baraga’s visit to the site, it was determined that a larger, more prominent church should be built, and eventually the diocesan see should be moved to Marquette from Sault Ste. Marie. The construction would begin in 1864, with Baraga himself laying the cornerstone. Two years later he would dedicate the building, but fortunately he did not live to see his beloved Cathedral catch fire.

Some have suggested that this first fire, on October 2, 1879, was caused by Irish arsonists who were enraged that Father John Kenny had been removed as pastor. Though the building was destroyed, the congregation’s resolve was fervent as ever, and plans were made to continue meeting in the basement before a new cathedral could be erected. It took nine winters to complete the new building.

This church also faced another tragic fire which destroyed everything except the sandstone walls: a few minutes after four in the morning on November 3, 1935, the building again erupted in flames. A high school auditorium was used for Mass for months before construction efforts were made to build another new cathedral.

This then, the church we see today, is the third cathedral, and the fourth building, on the site. Extensive work and money was put into its construction and beautification. There is elaborate marble work and Romanesque columns as well as an extended nave and domes on the tops of the steeples.