Mission Beginnings

One cold, wintry night, the feast of Epiphany January 6, 1855, Father Francis Xavier Pierz, missionary to the Indian people of northern Minnesota, witnessed an extraordinary phenomenon which not only moved his heart and shaped his ministry but helped establish a milieu for the growth of faith among the people living in the light of this event. He wrote:

“...there appeared with the rising of the full moon the sign of the Holy Cross in a wonderful, heavenly, glittering light so that the cross-beam seemed to rest on the earth. For about an hour, as the moon arose higher in the sky, the cross grew bigger and bigger, both in length and width, the base always standing on the earth. The three upper extremities of the cross seemed to be bathed in the yellow rays of the sun, giving it a very striking appearance. On each side of the cross a glittering line of light could be seen; and the whole apparition was encircled by a magnificent rainbow, as with a beautifully colored halo.”

Father Pierz testified that “more than a hundred people” witnessed the appearance of this cross over the north woods of Minnesota. What could it mean but BLESSING and GRACE poured out in abundance over this particular land and people; a munificent REVELATION of God’s love for all creation?

Three years after this vision, a young missioner presented himself to Father Pierz for service among the Indian people of Redlake. The enthusiastic priest, Father Lawrence Lautischar, eagerly wrote home to his friends in Austria about the new mission which Pierz had declared “full of fair hope.”

And today in the light and hope of those first days, God still manifests himself to the people of this place, St. Mary’s Mission in Redlake, Minnesota.

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