SUNRISE OVER BAY

 

SUNRISE OVER  SHAW ISAND

WITH MONASTERY SHEEP

 

Photo by Sarah Hui

'LONG BEARD" FUTURE SAINT OF MINNESOTA?

 

In 1971, Sisters Bernard Coleman and Verona La Bud from St. Scholastica's Benedictine Abbey in Duluth,  published a comprehensive 368-page biography of the missionary titled Masinaigans, meaning “little book.” This nickname, given by the Chippewa, referred to the priest’s constant companion, his diary. They also called him Meshidong, meaning “Long Beard.” Who is this pioneer missionary?

 MONSIGNOR JOSEPH BUH (pronounced Boo) was a pioneering missionary whose remarkable life and enduring legacy continues to inspire many. He was born on the feast of St. Patrick in 1833, in present-day Slovenia. He dedicated his life to serving Native American communities and immigrant populations in Minnesota, leaving a mark on the region’s spiritual and cultural landscape. Even the secular paper calls him a “patriarch of the Diocese of Duluth.

Coming to the United States in 1864, his extraordinary ministry was characterized by a profound commitment to the spiritual and physical well-being of those he served. He was instrumental in establishing 57 parishes and played a pivotal role as the vicar general of the Diocese of Duluth.     

Msgr. Buh’s life showed great humility, zeal, and unwavering faith. His dedication to the sacraments of the Church was profound, but equally inspiring was his dedication to the communities he served. In the 1880s, the iron ore mining boom brought a flood of new immigrants to the area.

In addition to being familiar with various Native dialects, Msgr. Buh could preach fluently in German, Polish, French and English, making him a very effective missionary to the various European immigrants settling in northern Minnesota mining towns.

He also became an advocate for the immigrant workers, who were often being subjected to unfair wages and dangerous working conditions. He tirelessly worked to meet their spiritual needs as well as advocate for better working conditions and just treatment.

In 1891, he established what would become the first Slovenian newspaper in the United States. From 1892 to 1898, he served as the editor and publisher of Amerikanski Slovenec. Initially, he managed everything for the paper, from creating layout copy to overseeing typesetting and printing. He put in long hours to ensure the newspaper’s success, driven by his goal to “better the Slovenians in America.”

His efforts in founding the American Slovene Catholic Union and his work among the Native American tribes underscore his commitment to fostering communities and supporting those in need.

During Msgr. Buh’s funeral Mass, the second bishop of Duluth, Timothy McNicholas, said that Msgr. Buh’s “love for souls was beyond our power to measure...

The casual observer would not even direct his attention to the extraordinary zeal of this gentle apostle. It is only when one realizes the great harvest that he has reaped that one is forced to take into account the many and deep furrows that he plowed in the harvest fields of Christ.

His zeal for souls was ever a burning fire. No journey on foot, no distance by horseback was too long or too trying provided a soul was to be helped at the journey’s end. He would set out with a trust in God realizing that God’s love of souls was infinite and that he was but the dispenser of the riches of God’s sacramental graces. He was ever willing to make every sacrifice in the performance of duty for the salvation of souls.”

The bishop had instructed the funeral director to make the casket metal-lined, as he considered his vicar general ‘a saint’. Even though he died over 100 years ago, many still come to the Duluth cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, laying flowers at his tomb and asking intercession for various needs.  We pray we will soon have another American saint..

PIANIST FOR UKRAINE

 

Another Ukrainian musician who has caught my attention lives in the USA. While I can’t say her music is my favorite, being very modern, I am impressed by her work and dedication to her country. Being from Kharkiv, Ukraine, pianist NADIA SHPACHENKO was shocked to see the destruction of her home and the massacre of her people. Nadia came to the US as a teenager when she received an invitation and a full scholarship to study piano with Victor Rosenbaum at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge in 1994.

 

But she still has many friends in Ukraine, so when invasion took place on her birthday in February 2022, she began  coloring her hair purple with gold streaks, the colors of her country’s flag. Her city was close to Russia hence she grew up speaking Russian.  Only now is she learning Ukrainian.  Her father still lives in the Ukraine, refusing to leave.  He is helping her daily, via internet, to learn the language and she watches Ukrainian TV as well.

Nadia completed her DMA and MM degrees at the University of Southern California, where she was awarded the title of Outstanding Graduate. Her principal teachers included John Perry, Victor Rosenbaum, and Victor Derevianko. She is a Steinway Artist and professor of music at Cal Poly Pomona University. 

Her specialty is premiering, performing, recording, and promoting music by living composers. Much of it was written specifically for her. She has mainly worked with composers in the US, but since the war she is focusing as well on Ukrainian composers. 

“I love sharing my imagination and ideas with composers and hearing their feedback as I learn their pieces, and then bringing their works to life for the first time and sharing them with audiences. I strongly believe that this is a very important task for performers—to promote newly-written music. This helps keep classical music alive, exciting, and relevant, and will leave repertoire for future generations to play.”

In a way to express her feelings of despair and anger, she decided to put together a new album to support Ukraine humanitarian aid with 100% of the proceeds benefitting Ukrainian people affected by the war. She also has been performing fundraising concerts featuring music by Ukrainian composers, which is good for us in the West as so much of this music in unknown here.

On my birthday in February 2022, the war started, Lewis Spratlan began writing Invasion, and the character of our plan for a CD of his works shifted. Positivity, defiance, perseverance, peace, nostalgia, recollections, and hope – all are displayed by the people in Ukraine, and all are reflected in the pieces on this disk. Even as all of us are comforted by timeless beauty, we are periodically reminded of the tragedy of the present. I commissioned Ukrainian artists to create paintings/artworks to use in this booklet and in the accompanying music videos, as their responses to the music. Also featured are drawings/artworks made by children in Kharkiv, as their responses to the war. Proceeds from this album will be donated to Ukraine humanitarian aid organizations. –Nadia Shpachenko

When asked how people can help support those in Ukraine, Nadia said “to promote Ukrainian culture through the arts.”  I certainly have tried through this Blog since the war started, as well as the prayers of all in the monastery on our small Salish Sea island.