Summary
Holy Cross Catholic Church is the Roman Catholic parish serving Beaver Island’s Irish-descended community, and the principal institutional monument of the island’s post-1856 Irish settlement. Its present physical church building is documented separately at Holy Cross Catholic Church building: the marker dates that building to 1860 and its relocation to the present site to 1957. Liturgies were given in Gaelic until the 1890s, reflecting the Irish (largely Arranmore, County Donegal) origin of the parish’s founding families. The parish is still active, and its hall and cemetery remain focal points of island community life.
History
Frederic Baraga (1797-1868), later Bishop of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, first landed on Beaver Island as a missionary in 1832 – well before the Strang settlement and the later Irish arrival.1 The present church building was built in 1860 and consecrated by Baraga, then bishop; its physical history is documented in Holy Cross Catholic Church building.1 It originally stood inland, alongside the parish cemetery, about a mile south of its current site.1
After James Jesse Strang’s assassination in June 1856 and the expulsion of his followers, Irish families – predominantly from Arranmore Island, County Donegal – settled the island in growing numbers (see Irish settlement of Beaver Island). Holy Cross became their parish church. Gaelic-language liturgies continued until the 1890s, a detail recorded on the Michigan historical marker and consistent with the timing of the main Arranmore-origin settlement wave.1 The isolated island’s public schools struggled to attract teachers, so in 1899 the parish invited Dominican Sisters from Grand Rapids to teach island children; the last Dominican Sister serving the island left in 1991.1 The local record is more specific about the reason and chronology than that short marker summary. A March 1972 correction says the Sisters came because the island’s isolation made qualified teachers difficult to obtain, not simply because the community could not pay public-school salaries.2 A June family letter attributes the 1899 organizing effort to Father Zugelder and dates the convent to 1901, while a March family account gives a different first-Sister name (Eleanor rather than Gabriel). The variants are preserved in the separate Dominican Sisters of Beaver Island schools record.3
In 1957 the church building was cut in half, moved, and reassembled at its present location on Donegal Bay Road (37860 Kings Highway, St. James), to better serve the island’s population center on Paradise Bay.1
The parish remains active. The modern Northern Islander newspaper records weekly 12:15 p.m. Sunday Mass, an active Altar Society and Religious Education program, and the use of Holy Cross Hall for the annual Homecoming Chicken Dinner and for events of the Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group’s “Calling of the Clans” festival fundraiser.4 Holy Cross Cemetery, adjoining the original 1860 church site, is maintained by island volunteers and is the burial ground for many of the island’s founding Irish families, including three Gallagher sisters lost in the 1887 sinking of the steamer Vernon.5
Significance
Holy Cross Catholic Church is the direct institutional link between the post-1856 Irish settlement and the present-day island community: it is the one organization that has served the island’s dominant population continuously from the Strang kingdom’s end to today, and its cemetery and hall are primary sites of memory for the island’s Irish-descended families. The parish organization should not be confused with the separately modeled church building (see Holy Cross Catholic Church building); see also Beaver Island Historical Society for the museums that document this history, and Feodor Protar, whose tomb the parish neighbourhood also holds.
Open questions
- The exact date within 1860 of construction, and the name of the builder(s), are not established from the sources held.
- No date is held for when Gaelic-language liturgies began – only that they continued until the 1890s.
- The identity of the founding parish priest is not established here; Elizabeth Whitney Williams’ memoir names a “Rev. Father Murray” as “the first priest stationed there” and a subsequent “Rev. Father Gallagher,” but does not give dates, and it is not yet confirmed whether “there” refers to Holy Cross itself or an earlier mission chapel.
- The NRHP nomination forms for the island’s three listed properties (Mormon Print Shop, Beaver Island Light Station, Protar Cabin) could not be retrieved from NPGallery in this project (placeholder assets only); Holy Cross itself is not separately NRHP-listed.
See also
- Irish settlement of Beaver Island
- Holy Cross Catholic Church building
- Holy Cross Cemetery
- Beaver Island Historical Society
- Feodor Protar
- Donegal Bay
Sources
Full citations, matching the sources: block above.
Footnotes
-
Michigan Historical Marker “Holy Cross Catholic Church,” marker ID L2251 (
data/state/michigan/historical_markers.geojson), front and back text. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 -
“Dedicated Sisters,” Beaver Beacon, March 1972,
data/newspapers/beaver_beacon/ocr/markdown/1972-03_Beaver-Beacon.md. ↩ -
Mrs. Fred Zalusky, letter, Beaver Beacon, June 1972,
data/newspapers/beaver_beacon/ocr/markdown/1972-06_Beaver-Beacon.md. ↩ -
Northern Islander, March/August/September 2024 issues (
data/books/internet_archive/northern_islander_2024.03/,northern_islander_2024.08/,northern_islander_2024.09/). ↩ -
Northern Islander, March 2026 and April 2026 issues, on the Gallagher sisters and the Vernon sinking, citing Henry Hill, Journal of Beaver Island History, Vol. V (
data/books/internet_archive/northern_islander_2026.03/,northern_islander_2026.04_April/). ↩
Sources
- Michigan Historical Marker "Holy Cross Catholic Church," Michigan Historical Commission, marker ID L2251, registry listing year 2013, erected 2014.Front and back marker text, quoted in full below; gives the 1860 construction date, Baraga's consecration, the 1957 relocation, the Gaelic-language liturgies to the 1890s, and the 1899-1991 Dominican Sisters school.state · michigan · historical_markers
- Beaver Island Master Plan (St. James Township / Peaine Township, 2023), p. (Community Facilities chapter).Lists Holy Cross Catholic Church among the island's active churches and locates it on Donegal Bay Road near the St. James Township Government Center.
- Northern Islander (Beaver Island's modern community newspaper), issues throughout 2024-2026 (e.g. March 2024, p. 26; August 2024, p. 32; September 2024).Attests continued parish life -- Sunday Mass at 12:15pm, Holy Cross Hall used for the annual Homecoming Dinner and Irish Féile "Calling of the Clans" events, Holy Cross Altar Society and Religious Ed Director as active volunteer roles, and Holy Cross Cemetery as a maintained burial ground.
- "Dedicated Sisters," Beaver Beacon, March 1972; "Granny's Song," April 1972; and Mrs. Fred Zalusky letter, June 1972.Local retrospective and family corrections expand the parish-school history: Dominican Sisters from Grand Rapids staffed island schools from 1899 because isolation made qualified teachers difficult to recruit; the June account places Father Zugelder, the first Sisters, and a 1901 convent in the parish neighborhood. Individual first-Sister names conflict across the family accounts and remain unresolved.
- "Granny's Song," Beaver Beacon, April 1972.Reprints the March school-history correction and preserves its isolation and teacher-supply explanation.
- Mrs. Fred Zalusky, letter, Beaver Beacon, June 1972.Family correction supplies the Father Zugelder, first-Sister, 1901 convent, and 1924 automobile details; its individual names are retained as a variant account.
- Beaver Beacon, July 1973, “Weddings,” “Broadway Comes To Beaver Island,” and “Homecoming.”Connects Holy Cross Parish Hall with the planned Plaza Suite performance and Homecoming program, and records the July 21 wedding context through the parish’s named officiant; it does not provide parish registers or attendance records.
- Beaver Beacon, January 1974, “New Officers,” “Golden Wedding Anniversary — Mr. and Mrs. Roland J. McCann,” “John R. Martin,” and “To The Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids — Thank You.”Adds the January Altar Society officer slate, the retrospective December 11, 1923 McCann–Mielke marriage at Holy Cross, Martin’s January funeral and planned cemetery burial, and the club’s $600 parish donation; it does not replace parish, civil, or cemetery registers.
- Beaver Beacon, January 1961, “Wedding Bells.”Reports the January 4 Nuptial High Mass for Mary LaFreniere and Archie Minor, with Father Louis Wren officiating, a Parish Hall reception, and a wedding breakfast at Beaver Lodge. It does not provide a parish register or civil marriage record.
- Beaver Beacon, February 1974, “The 20th Annual St. Patrick’s Party.”Announces a March 9 Chicago benefit party for Holy Cross Church, with a $3.00 donation, buffet, entertainment, and contributions directed to Father Herb Graf; it does not provide attendance, proceeds, or a financial ledger.
- Beaver Beacon, April 1960, “Holy Cross Parish News.”Reports a March 31 parish meeting that suggested restrooms, a well and pump, a septic tank, and electrical rewiring for the hall. It documents proposals, not completed work.
- Beaver Beacon, May–June 1974, “Graduation,” “Graveside Services,” “Whitefish Dinner,” and “Homecoming.”Connects Holy Cross Church and Hall with the May 24 commencement, the May 17 and 18 graveside services, the July 5 whitefish dinner, and the August 11 Homecoming barbecue; it does not provide parish registers, attendance, proceeds, or cemetery plot records.
- Beaver Beacon, December 1974, “’Tis The Season To Be Jolly.”Reports a December 19 children’s Christmas program and December 22 annual Christmas Bazaar at Holy Cross Hall. The Ladies of Holy Cross Parish offered goods at the bazaar; the issue supplies no parish accounting, cast, attendance, or hall record.
- Beaver Beacon, January 1960, “A Happy New Year To All.”Reports that nearly everyone attended Christmas Midnight Mass at Holy Cross Church and that the Holy Cross Altar Society conducted a well-attended December 13 Christmas Bazaar for the church. It supplies no parish register, attendance, proceeds, or Altar Society roster.
- Beaver Beacon, February 1960, “Holy Cross Parish News.”Reports altar and pew maintenance, a 100th-anniversary celebration planned for August, and a “Home for Christmas in ’60” project still in discussion. It does not provide parish registers, a founding-day record, or a completed program.