September 24 - Blessed Anton Martin Slomsek

Quick Facts

  • Born to a peasant family in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
  • Seminarian at Klagenfurt.
  • Ordained on 8 September 1824.
  • Parish priest for five years.
  • Spiritual director of the Klagenfurt seminary.
  • Taught the Slovene language to seminarians; because the rulers of the empire spoke German, Slovenian was in danger of disappearing.
  • Prince-bishop of Lavant on 30 May 1846, a diocese with a Slovene majority.
  • Bishop Slomsek began a campaign of patriotic education. He built new schools, encouraged Slovenian language and culture, wrote textbooks, and edited others.
  • He founded a weekly newspaper, and published his sermons and episcopal statements.
  • Founded the Saint Hermagoras Society publishing house to publish popular works in Slovenian.
  • Today the region is nearly 100% literate, much of it due to Bishop Anton's good work.