Bl. Anton Martin Slomšek

Anton Martin Slomšek was born in 1800 in Styria, then part of Austria and now in Slovenia. He became a priest and later Bishop of Lavant, with his seat at Maribor.

In his time Slovenian-speaking children had very few schools, and the government discouraged the use of their language. Slomšek wrote textbooks and stories in Slovenian, set up Sunday schools, and co-founded a society to publish good books cheaply for ordinary families.

He died on September 24, 1862. John Paul II beatified him in Maribor in 1999, the first Slovenian to be beatified.

Anton Martin Slomšek was beatified in 1999.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.