Ignatius Mrak

Ignatius Mrak (October 16, 1810 – January 2, 1901) was a Slovenian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as bishop of Sault Saint Marie and Marquette in Michigan from 1869 to 1879.

Biography Early life Ignatius Mrak was born on October 16, 1810, in Hotovlja in the Duchy of Carniola in the Austrian Empire (present-day Slovenia). He was baptized Ignatz Mrack. He received his early education at schools in Poljane and Kranj before attending the Bežigrad Gymnasium, a Jesuit school in Ljubljana. In 1834, he entered the diocesan seminary of Ljubljana, where he completed his theological studies with honors.

Priesthood Mrak was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ljubljana on August 13, 1837, in Ljubljana by Anton Aloys Wolf, its prince-bishop.

Pope Leo IX in 1853 erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Upper Michigan, taking the Upper Peninsula region from the Diocese of Detroit, and appointed Baraga as its vicar apostolic. Mrak was incardinated into the new vicariate apostolic.

Four years later, in 1857, Leo IX elevated the vicariate to the Diocese of Sault Sainte Marie, with Baraga as its first bishop. He appointed Mrak vicar general of the diocese in 1859. However, Mrak was reluctant to accept the position; he refused to respond to the letters announcing his appointment for several months. He finally yielded and received his episcopal consecration on February 7, 1869, from Archbishop John Purcell, with Bishops Lefevere and John Henni serving as co-consecrators, at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is buried in the crypt of St. Peter's Cathedral.