Brandon Nelson

Grade 2

Commissioned for the Negaunee High School Band (Negaunee, MI) by

Jacob Schmeltzer, conductor

Frederic Baraga was the first bishop of the Diocese of Marquette, in Michigan’s upper peninsula. He had come to northern Michigan as a missionary in 1831, after immigrating from the Austrian Empire — an area of it that is in modern day Slovenia.

Baraga proved a tireless missionary, traveling hundreds of miles by foot, often in snowshoes, during the long, harsh winters. He converted thousands of indigenous peoples, and he ministered to the settlers, including those who came north for the copper boom. Though he sometimes faced resistance from Protestant missionaries, French fur traders, and even the U.S. government, Baraga seemed to have a gift for developing very warm and productive relations with both native and European populations in the area. In fact, he wrote the first known dictionary of the native language of the region and sacrificed much of his own material wealth to improve the lives of those under his care.

Devotion to him began shortly after his death in 1868. He was declared Venerable in 2012, not far from formal declaration of “sainthood” in the Catholic Church.

Dushna Pasha (or “Pasture for the Soul”) is a prayer book written by Baraga for the laypeople to deepen in their faith. It is perhaps one of his more insightful works, giving us a richness of deep meditations on his own spirituality. As Baraga left Slovenia to come to America in 1830, this prayer book was published in the capital, Ljubljana. It was one of the most extensive prayer books ever written in Slovenian and was so popular it was translated into numerous languages and went through at least 11 printings. The aim of this composition is to paint what I felt were the more comforting, gentle views of Baraga’s beliefs about his faith and his Church.

This piece has been selected for publication by Wingert-Jones, a subsidiary of Excelcia. The published final release is slated to be recorded by a professional concert band in January 2026. I will let you know when this piece becomes commercially available and how to obtain your own copy!