The first Catholic Mass in the Upper Peninsula was celebrated in 1641 by French missionary Isaac Jogues, in the area that would later become Sault Sainte Marie.

In 1763, the Michigan area became part of the British Province of Quebec, forbidden from settlement by American colonists.

In 1853, Pope Pius IX created the Vicariate Apostolic of Upper Michigan, removing its territory from the Diocese of Detroit.

Four years later, in 1857, the pope converted the Vicarate into the Diocese of Sault Sainte Marie and named Baraga as its first bishop.

[3] During this time, the area experienced a population explosion, as European immigrants were attracted to work in the copper and iron mines developed near Houghton, Ontonagon, and Marquette.

Baraga had few priests to minister to his diocese, which included Native American inhabitants, French-Canadian settlers, and the new German and Irish immigrant miners.

In 1868, Reverend Ignatius Mrak was named as bishop of Sault Saint Marie and Marquette by Pope Pius IX.

[7] At the same time, a depression in the Copper Country industry lead to a significant decline in the Catholic population.

The fire was allegedly an act of arson by some parishioners angry over the removal of the cathedral's pastor, Reverend John Kenny.

In 1899, Reverend Frederick Eis was appointed the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Sault Sainte Marie and Marquette by Pope Leo XIII.

[12] During Eis' 23-year tenure as bishop, he led the diocese through the nationalist controversies within the American Catholic community, and founded several charitable institutions and hospitals.

[14] Els retired in 1922 and Bishop Paul Nussbaum of the Diocese of Corpus Christi was appointed as his successor by Pope Pius XI that same year.

Pius IX named Auxiliary Bishop Joseph C. Plagens from the Archdiocese of Detroit to replace Nussbaum in 1935.

Plagens had ordered the transfer of Reverend Simon Borkowski, pastor of St. Barbara's Parish in Vulcan, Michigan, to a seminary in Wisconsin.

One day, a group of sixty men arrived at St. Barbara's, pushed past the picketers, and brought Borkowski out of the building.

[15] In 1940, Pope Pius XII named Plagens as bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids and replace him in Marquette with Reverend Francis Joseph Magner from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

During his six-year tenure, Magner provided attention to the mission parishes of the diocese, established the diocesan newspaper and created seven catechetical schools.

To replace Manger, Pius XII appointed Coadjutor Bishop Thomas Lawrence Noa of the Diocese of Sioux City later in 1947.

[17] Facing a large financial deficit, Salaka was forced to closed two thirds of the diocesan schools.

In 1987, Reverend Terrence Healy, pastor of St. John Catholic Church near Hartland, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct based on accusations from a 15-year-old boy.

The investigation showed that in 1982 a priest in the diocese found Polaroid pictures of Jacobs having oral sex with a boy.