Martin Marty

Martin Marty (born James Joseph Alois Marty; January 12, 1834 – September 19, 1896) was a Swiss-born Benedictine missionary and Catholic bishop in the United States.

Marty was the first abbot of Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana; the first vicar Apostolic of Dakota Territory, where he ministered to the Lakota Sioux; and the second bishop of Saint Cloud in Minnesota His zeal for the Native American missions earned him the title, "The Apostle of the Sioux".

Biography

Early life James Marty was born in Canton Schwyz, Switzerland, on January 12, 1834, the son of a shoemaker and church sexton and his wife. Before age two, he severely burned his mouth and face when trying to drink from a bottle of acid in his father's shop. The acid caused swelling that nearly suffocated him; it left his face permanently disfigured.

After graduating from the Jesuit-run gymnasium in his hometown, Marty was granted a musical scholarship to the Jesuit college at Fribourg, Switzerland. While there, he learned about the work of Reverend Pierre De Smet, a Jesuit missionary in the Western United States. De Smet inspired Marty to become a priest and serve as a missionary to the Native Americans. After his graduation, Marty entered the Benedictine novitiate at age 20; he took his final vows on May 29, 1855, assuming the name Brother Martin Marty. In 1859, the Benedictines assigned him to teach moral theology at the abbey.

In 1860, Abbot Heinrich Schmid von Baar sent Marty to the United States for one year to manage the Benedictine Saint Meinrad monastery at St. Meinrad, Indiana. Marty succeeded in reducing Saint Meinrad's debt, saving it from dissolution. Schmid von Baar decided to designate Marty as its permanent leader. When Saint Meinrad was established as a conventual priory five years later, Marty was selected as the first prior.

Vicar Apostolic of Dakota Territory In July 1876, Marty departed Indiana by steamer for Standing Rock in the Dakota Territory, along the upper Missouri River, where he intended to found a Benedictine monastery to assist the Lakota people.

On August 12, 1879, Pope Leo XIII appointed Marty as vicar apostolic of the Dakota Territory; he was consecrated bishop on February 1, 1880, by Bishop Silas Chatard and named titular bishop of Tiberias. The Hunkpapa Sioux called him "Black Robe Lean Chief".

The area was first under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nebraska. As the Dakota Territory had only 12 Catholic priests, Marty actively recruited priests from the Eastern United States and Europe. In 1880 Marty persuaded Benedictine sisters from Missouri to assist him at Fort Yates, a mission among the Yankton Sioux.

In 1884, Marty attended the Third Plenary Council in Baltimore, Maryland. He served on the committee to establish the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Marty was appointed president of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions.

Bishop of Sioux Falls On November 26, 1889, Pope Leo XIII appointed Marty as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Sioux Falls, which, at that time, comprised all of South Dakota.

Quote "Happy would I be if I could sacrifice for God what Custer threw away to the world."