Pope John Paul II will visit Slovenia on Sunday, 19 September 1999 for the purpose of beatifying the Maribor bishop, Anton Martin Slom¹ek. Slom¹ek lived between 1800 and 1862. He headed the Lavantine, later Maribor diocese from 1846 until his death; in 1859 he transferred the diocesan seat from St. Andra¾ in Austrian Carinthia to Maribor.
Slom¹ek was already spoken of as a saint in his own lifetime. His first biographer, Franc Kosar, wrote in 1863: "Thank God for such a bishop: he is a disciple and a saint". The idea of the saintliness of A.M.Slom¹ek has been constantly alive among the Slovene people. In 1926, the third of Slom¹ek's successors, Bishop Andrej Karlin, commenced the diocesan procedure for Slom¹ek's beatification, which was completed in 1962, when the Maribor bishop, Maksimilijan Dr¾eenik, transferred the selected documents to Rome. After two years, the apostolic procedure commenced, which was successfully completed on 3.7.1998. Thus ended all the formal procedures required for the final act of beatifying God's honourable servant Anton Martin Slom¹ek.
The beatification of Bishop Anton Martin Slom¹ek will take place on 19 September 1999 during a solemn mass which will be conducted by Pope Paul John II at Betnava Castle in Maribor.
The present Bishop of Maribor, Dr. Franc Kramberger, describes Bishop Slom¹ek with the words: "teacher and educator, writer and poet, biographer and critic, lover of his mother tongue and fighter for national equality, patriot, speaker and preacher, ecumenical worker and theological teacher of the Slovene people, priest and bishop ... Slom¹ek's personality is like a mosaic, each stone has its own colour, its own function and size, but all together provide the image of a saint, that is a person who is open to the breath of the Holy Ghost, who prophetically understands the signs of the time and responds to them, who understands how to use all natural and supernatural means to realise the kingdom of God on earth."
Prepared by the Church council for the Pope's visit
