SLOVENIA, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN

Part of the former Yugoslavia, the southeastern European Republic of Slovenia is bordered on the north by Austria, on the northeast by Hungary, on the east and south by Croatia, and on the west by Italy. It is land-locked except for a short strip of coastline in the southwest that provided access to the Gulf of Venice; among the rivers crossing Slovenia is the Sava, running from the Julian Alps to the north southwest to Croatia. Within its wooded alpine regions and fertile valleys, Slovenia enjoys a mild climate that becomes Mediterranean along the coast. Natural resources include lignite coal, lead, zinc, mercury, uranium and silver; its primary exports are manufactured goods and machinery and transportation equipment. Agricultural products include sugar beets, potatoes and cereals.

Except for an initial period under Slovene rulers, historical and political circumstances caused Slovenes in almost all the eastern section of Austria to fall under German domination from the beginning of Austro-Hungarian overlordship (907–955) through the time of the Napoleonic Illyrian Republic (1809–13). Slovenia was incorporated into the duchy of Carantania by Frankish Emperor Otto I in 952; later rulers split the duchy into Carinthia, Carniola and Styria. In 1278 Slovenia fell to the Austrian Habsburgs, who controlled it until 1918, when Slovenia joined the Serbs and Croats in forming what would become Yugoslavia in 1928. Political independence was reestablished in 1991.

The Early Church. A Slavic people, the Slovenes entered the region from the east during the fifth and sixth centuries and settled in the Julian Alps, in the ancient Roman provinces of Pannonia and Noricum. The Franks overran the region in the late eighth century and along with them came Christianity, via both the Patriarchate of aquileia and the See of Salzburg (the Drava River would divide these ecclesiastical jurisdictions until the 1700s). In response to the request of Chotimir (753–769), the Slovenes' second Christian prince, for a bishop to evangelize his people, St. Virgilius of Salzburg sent Chorbishop Modestus, who resided near what is now Klagenfurt, in the Austrian province of Carinthia, near the church of Sancta Maria from 760 to 763. The Prince's residence was in the same neighborhood, at Karnburg.

Under Charlemagne (742–814), German nobles began ensuring that the Slovenes and German missionaries baptized them in the Latin rite. During the ninth century cyril and Methodius worked among the Pannonian Slavs at the request of Prince Kocel, who intended to withdraw his lands from German influence by joining them to the Slav archdiocese of St. Methodius (created in 869) and by introducing the Slavonic liturgy. However, Koce's efforts resulted in a Slavic renaissance that was short-lived, as the Latin-rite continued to predominate.

The See of Ljubljana, created in 1461, became the first diocese in Slovenian territory. In 1788 the diocese of Lavant was expanded to include Slovenian territory, and was transferred to the city of Maribor in 1857. The Archdiocese of Gorizia (Gorica in Slovene) was erected in 1751; that see is now in Italy.

When the Ottoman Turks plundered the region during the 16th and 17th centuries, many Slovenes were forced to abandoned their homes and band together, often in churches around which they had raised bulwarks for protection. The Turkish conquest of the Balkans hurt the Slovenian economy, with the result that German nobles' demands for feudal obligations incited numerous peasant revolts from 1470 to the late 16th century.

From Reformation to Enlightenment. While encouraging the spread of Protestantism within the region, the most significant impact of the Reformation was in sparking Slovenia's cultural awakening. In Tübingen, Germany, Protestant writer Primož Trubar published the first Slovenian-language catechism and abecedarium in 1550; these would be followed six years later by a translation of the New Testament, as well as by 20 other books in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. While Ljubljana had a printing press by 1575, the authorities closed it when Jurij Dalmatin tried to publish a Slovenian translation of the Bible. Dalmatin moved to Germany, and published his Bible in 1584, complete with a glossary enabling Croats to read it.

Promotion of the Slovenian language was important to both Catholics and Protestants, the former as a means of retaining Sloveninan cultural autonomy in a Protestantized society, and the latter as a way to break the hold of centuries-old power bases. Many German nobles living in the Slovenian provinces of Carinthia, Carniola and Styria supported the reformation solely as a means of

breaking the hold of the Catholic Church and gaining political autonomy. However, the Catholic Counterreformation eventually gained influence and by 1628 the Austrian emperor was giving Slovenian Protestants the choice between Catholicism and exile. Slovenian-language elementary schools were dismantled in cities and gradually died out in rural areas. Jesuit counter reformers burned Slovenian Protestant literature and took other measures that, while stalling the spread of Slovenian nationalism, failed to stifle it completely. Meanwhile, Capuchin friar Janez Svetokriški published volumes of Slovenian sermons, and other Religious followed suit, determined to defend the Slovenian language against a Germanicization of the litergy that reflected an increasingly liberalized post-reformation culture. In 1769 Augustinian monk Marko Pohlin would publish a Slovene grammar that would further revive the language.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Slovenia developed a strong economy and living conditions improved due to increased trade within Europe, although the power of the Church slowly eroded as Austrian emperors used their authority to take possession of monastic lands. By the beginning of the 19th century, Slovenia possessed a generation steeped in the views of the Enlightenment and an intellectual class trained in Catholic schools and writing in Slovenian about the ideal Slovenian culture. In 1809, following victories in Austria, Napoleon Bonaparte incorporated the three Slovenian provinces as part of the Slavic Illyrian Provinces, its capital at Ljubljana. Promoting the ancient state of Illyria as a unifying force among Slovenes, Croats and Serbs planted the first seeds of a possible Slavic unification. The French, issuing proclamations in Slovenian as well as in German and French, instituted reforms that included new roads, the establishment of Slovenian-language schools and the appointment of Slovenes to government positions.

While Austria rescinded these French reforms after regaining power in Slovenia in 1813, intellectuals continued to debate the ramifications of Slovenian nationalism. To counter this line of thought, philologist and pioneer linguist Jernej Kopitar created a Slovenian literary language through which he hoped to strengthen support for

the status quo: the Austrian-Habsburg monarchy and the Catholic Church. Despite a 1848 revolution ending serfdom, the nationalist momentum gained little headway, and the Church used its renewed control of the region's schools to promote the Serbian language within a Catholic context. Their efforts ended in 1866, after control over non-religious elementary and secondary education reverted to the state. From 1879 to 1893 the Austrian government allowed Slovenian to be used in schools and in some local governments. Slovenes controlled the local assembly of Carniola after 1883, and Ljubljana had a Slovenian mayor after 1888.

To promote Catholic culture among the populace, the Society of St. Hermagoras was founded in the 19th century in Celovec; its headquarters were moved to Celje in 1918. Battling a growing liberal nationalist ideology, the Church attempted to return education, the media and many social structures to a Catholic base, and restore Slovenia's Catholic culture. However, events early in the next century would undermine their efforts.

The Rise of Yugoslavia. In October of 1908 Austria annexed the southern Slav provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a move many Slovenians viewed as a step toward formation of a South Slav union. Ten years later, at the close of World War I, Slovenia joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The region's wealthy Catholics aided fellow Catholics harmed during the war in Serbia and Macedonia by sending priests and financial and humanitarian aid. By the early 1920s Slovenian society was so homogenous that an estimated 96 percent declared themselves Catholic; among the most popular periodicals of the era was the Catholic monthly Mladika (1924–32), edited by Father Franc Saleški Finzgar, which was published in Slovenian.

Within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Slovenia soon realized that the Serbian majority dominated, despite policy opposition from Croats, Macedonians and other minorities. Although the Yugoslav constitution guaranteed freedom and equality to all faiths, the government favored the Orthodox Serbian Church, prompting many to join that faith and resulting in a decline in the Roman Catholic population in southern Yugoslavia. In 1922 Slovenia supported the Yugoslav government's negotiations with the Holy See intended to create corresponding diocesan and state borders and establish the Roman-Slavonic liturgy in all regions where so desired. While an agreement was reached in 1935, the Parliament bent to the will of the Orthodox Church and refused ratification.

During World War II Slovenia was occupied by German forces north of the Sava River and by Italian forces south of it. In 1946 it joined the socialist Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, proclaimed in 1945 by Communist leader Josip Broz Tito. Although the republic's Nov. 30, 1946 constitution guaranteed religious liberty, the new Yugoslavian government demonstrated its opposition to religion by open persecution. Ljubljana Bishop Gregorij Rožman, forced to flee in May of 1945, was marked as a fascist and traitor to his people. Almost all Catholic schools, as well as other church properties, were nationalized or destroyed; religious instruction was prohibited in public schools; the Catholic media was curtailed; and faith-based associations were suppressed.

An ideological disagreement between Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union in 1948 prompted government officials to establish a policy of toleration with regard to religious groups. After 1956 they permitted the Holy See to appoint new bishops, suspended charges against the clergy, allowed some religious periodicals to resume publication and permitted some minor seminaries to reopen. In 1961 Ljubljana became an archdiocese without suffragans. In 1962 all bishops received permission to attend Vatican Council II. These conditions strengthened religious life in some measure; they by no means destroyed it. On June 25, 1966 the government signed a protocol with the Vatican that improved Church-state relations still further, and diplomatic relations were restored between Yugoslavia and Rome on Aug. 14, 1970.

The Slovenian region that returned to the newly socialist Yugoslavia in 1945 had been enlarged by the annexation of Slovenian portions of the Istrian peninsula under the care of the Italian-based Archdiocese of Gorizia and Diocese of Trieste. Because Italian Church leaders were not permitted in Yugoslavia, the Holy See first appointed two apostolic administrators; in 1964 Rome reduced this administration to one bishop.

The Modern Era. By the mid-20th century Slovenia was the most economically viable and politically stable republic in Yugoslavia. When a new 1974 constitution outlined federal budgeting procedures forcing Slovenia to support Yugoslavia's underdeveloped republics, the region grew increasingly critical of the amount of Serbian influence in government. Slovenia also condemned Serbian oppression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and the Serbian majority's push for one man-one vote elections. By 1989 several noncommunist political groups had developed in Slovenia, multiple-candidate elections were held, and open discussion of all issues was encouraged. On Sept. 27, 1989, the Slovenian parliament voted itself the right to secede from Yugoslavia. Shortly thereafter, the Slovenian League of Communists renamed itself the Party of Democratic Renewal. In 1990 it became the first Yugoslav republic to hold multiparty elections, and it declared itself independent of Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991, under a six-party coalition led by newly elected reformist president Milan Kucan. Although scattered fighting followed, Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milošević agreed to follow the ruling of the European Community and withdrew his forces.

While Slovenian independence was welcomed by the Church, a rift soon developed between the liberal government that came to power after Kucan and Church leaders over the reintroduction of religious education as part of public school curriculum, the return of confiscated Church properties and the role of the Church in Slovenian society. Under liberal Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek, state restitution for confiscated Church property quickly came to a standstill, and by 1999 only a third of all property issues had been resolved. The election of conservative president Andrej Bajuk in 2000 was viewed as encouraging by the Church. Other issues remained between conservative Catholics and the liberal minority, one of which involves the treatment of affluent Catholics alleged to be Nazi sympathizers, who were either killed or evicted from Slovenia, their property confiscated by the state, between 1946 and 1948.

Under the new constitution of Dec. 23, 1991, the government recognized freedom of religion, allowing for a regeneration of the Church. By 2001 Slovenia had over 800 parishes, tended by 835 secular and 300 religious priests. In addition, 810 sisters and 45 brothers tended to Church-run education and other community and health-based needs. During a visit from Pope John Paul II in May of 1996, the pontiff celebrated Mass in Ljubljana, and expressed joy at "being in independent Slovenia at the dawn of the new age of its history."

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