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.