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The Diocese of Duluth is taking another step to honor the Patriarch of their diocese, Monsignor Joseph Buh, through a Mass of Entombment at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary on June 9.
The Mass is to begin at 5:30 p.m. with a procession with Buh’s remains from the Pastoral Center, the building located across the street from the Cathedral which houses diocesan offices, to what will be his final resting place in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary. The public is welcome to attend this historic event.
According to the Ely Echo book, “Ely, Since 1888:” The noted missioner, Joseph Francis Buh, was born in Lucne, Slovenia, Jugoslavia on March 17, 1833. He studied for the priesthood in the Diocese of Ljubljana and worked among the people of his native land for six years.
He emigrated from Jugoslavia in 1864, answering a call from a Father Pierz to serve in an Indian mission in northern Minnesota.
Monsignor Buh left his fellow workers to spend the winter with a half breed at Lake Winnibigoshish. It was there that he learned the language of the Chippewas and taught their children.”
In 1887, he began to perform mission work among his own countrymen.
He was sent to Tower, an isolated Slovenian community, because he knew the language of the immigrants, and traveled to Two Harbors, Eveleth, Mt. Iron, Biwabik, Virginia, Hibbing and Ely. He is said to have spoken up to four languages during his services, and spoke Chippewa when he greeted Indians he knew.
Until 1890, Fr. Buh held his Ely services in the Frank Lozar home. On Nov. 27, 1890, the first church was dedicated. Although Fr. Buh could not visit Ely more than once a month, he secured the services of Rev. Mathias Bilban, who was among “the number of Slovenian students whom Father Buh brought into this country to work in the mission territory.”
The immigrants apparently appreciated the new church. “Early missionaries and parishoners reported that there was a real spirit of living faith among the Ely people. The miners attended mass nearly every morning on their way home from the night shift at the mines.
In 1900, Fr. Buh was assigned as pastor. While serving here he paid off the parish debt and bought a new organ, which was used until the present church was dedicated. He also ordered a handmade clock from Jugoslavia it was placed in the church steeple.
Buh’s remains were exhumed on July 25, 2024, as part of the process of investigating him to be named as a saint and to allow people to be able to venerate him more readily. From the beginning, Catholics have visited the remains of deceased loved ones believed to be in Heaven to ask for their intercession before God.
With Buh’s final resting place under the statue of St. Joseph, his namesake, in the Duluth Cathedral the faithful will easily be able to visit and ask for this holy man’s intercession.
Monsignor Joseph Buh was an early missionary in Northeast Minnesota who established many parishes in the region and served the Slovenian immigrant and Native peoples. He created deep relationships of trust, learning to speak the language of the people he served, and being passionate in his writings and preaching about the healing, hope, and joy that we can only find in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
When Msgr. Buh was buried in 1922, he was considered a saint by Bishop McNicholas and his peers. The Diocese is exploring his cause for beatification which is the proclamation by the Pope that the person in question is definitely in heaven, and, therefore, able to plead to God face-to-face on your behalf. Be it the will of God, this holy missionary priest living in his missionary time will become the missionary saint interceding for us in our own missionary time.
To learn more about Msgr. Buh, visit josephbuh.org. Video and photo assets are available and can be shared upon request before or after the June 9 event.
