From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
September 24th - Bl. Anton Martin Slomsek
(1800-1862)
Slovenia is a pocket republic in the northern Balkans. Bounded by
Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary, it is the twin of Massachusetts
in size, and has a population of 1.9 million citizens, mostly
Catholics of the Latin Rite. On September 19, 1999 Pope John Paul II,
during a 12-hour air trip to Maribor, Slovenia, beatified a man dearly
loved by the Slovenes as a culture-hero, Bishop Anton Martin Slomsek (Slomshek), the first Slovene to be raised to the honors of the altar.
Anton Slomsek was born into a prosperous peasant family at Slom in Austria-Hungary. After receiving a good secondary education he studied theology, was ordained a priest in 1824, and began a career of
inventive pastoral zeal. Having served his first five priestly years
in two successive parishes, he was called back to his theological alma
mater in Klagenfurt to become its spiritual director. In addition to
his functions as director, he also taught the Slovene language to his seminarians. As a loyal Slovene, he felt that such instruction was at
that point very necessary. The Slovenes had been ruled for centuries
by German-speakers, first by Germans proper, then by Austrians; and
Slomsek feared that his Slovene brethren were in real danger of
forgetting their own ancient linguistic and cultural traditions.
In 1846 Father Anton was consecrated prince-bishop of Lavant, but was transferred in 1859 to the diocese of Maribor, where the Slovenes
formed the greater majority of the citizenry.
These Slovenes were one of the many Slavic nations. In the fifth
century they had moved southeast from their earlier home within the
present Poland to the northwest corner of Balkan country. They brought
with them their own language and customs and their own patriotic
desire for political independence. At the beginning of the 19th
century, however, they were growing restive under the Germanizing
pressure of the Austrian Empire of which they were a constituent
people. The several Balkan peoples (most of them Slavic), who resented
the Germanic pressure, tended to consider armed revolt as the only way
to achieve independence of Vienna. Bishop Slomsek firmly believed that
extreme nationalism and violence were not the key to reform and
greater freedom. A man of Christian peace, he held that peaceful, constitutional methods were the only way to self-determination.
In 1848 Austro-Hungary adopted a new constitution that granted to
non-Germanic peoples under its jurisdiction =E2=80=9Cnational=E2=80=9D righ= ts. Slomsek
saw in this concession an opportunity to win political self-rule by
positive and peaceful methods. There was no need, he argued, to take
up arms against the imperial government or the various ethnic peoples
of the Balkans. Let each nation build up its own culture and it will
set for others the example of civility, of =E2=80=9Clive and let live.=E2= =80=9D
A born educator, Bishop Slomsek started his campaign of patriotic
education with the schools. He built many new schools and gave to all
of his national schools a syllabus in which Slovenian values, both
religious and cultural, were reinforced. Textbooks were very
important, so he saw to the production and circulation of a whole
library of such texts. An able writer himself, he was the author of
many of these attractive school books. Next, he founded a weekly
newspaper in which the articles addressed in popular style questions
that adult Slovenes were most likely to raise. He also published his
own sermons and episcopal statements; here, again, since he was one of
the best preachers and writers in Slovenia, these published works were
widely read because of their literary merit. But his most effective
cultural project was the foundation of a publishing house called the
St. Hermagoras Society. Its aim was to produce and circulate good and inexpensive books in the native tongue. Between 1852 and 1952 the
Society put 26 million books of various types in the hands of the
Slovenes. If Slovenia is today close to 100% literate, the huge
library of religious and literary works is largely responsible.
It is easy to see why Pope John Paul II chose to beatify, at the
turbulent end of the second millennium, a Slovene leader of such
holiness and wisdom as Anton Slomsek. In our own day, many of the
Balkan peoples have not yet learned that violence and ethnic cleansing
are ineffectual instruments of peace; that the bulworks of civility
are culture and tolerance. As the Holy Father said of Blessed Anton in
his homily, =E2=80=9CHe showed that it is possible to be sincere patriots a= nd,
with equal sincerity, to live together and cooperate with people of
other nationalities, cultures and religions. And the Pope prayed, =E2=80=9C= May
his example and above all, his intercession obtain solidarity and
authentic peace for all the peoples of this vast area of Europe.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93Father Robert
Saint Quote:
A great help to you always be a great love for, and unlimited
confidence in, Our Blessed Lady, Help of Christians, Mother of God,
and your Mother also. She says to you: "Whoever is little, let him
come to me." If you will love her, she will shower on you many graces
in this life, and be an assurance to you of Heaven
--St. John Bosco
Bible Quote:
"...he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on
the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat
vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was
great." (Luke 6:49)
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Prayer in the Time of Illness
Almighty Master, Physician of our souls and bodies, who both humbles
and uplifts, who chastises and heals; visit me with Your mercy in my
time of illness. Stretch forth Your arm that is full of health and
healing, and heal me, and allow me to leave my sick-bed. Banish my
weakness and pains, heal my wounds, quench my fever, and prevent a
relapse. If I am guilty of sins or transgressions, loose, remit and
forgive them for the sake of Your love toward mankind. Yes, O Lord,
pity me, Your creature, through Jesus Christ our Lord with Whom You
are blessed , together with Your all-holy, gracious and life-giving
Spirit, now and ever and forever.--Amen.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)