Gustav Baron (October 16, 1847 in

Kutina Kutina is a town in central Croatia, the largest settlement in the hilly region of Moslavina, in the Sisak-Moslavina County. The town proper has a population of 13,735 (2011), while the total municipal population is 22,760. The settlement of Ku ...

– March 18, 1914 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

) was a Croatian

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, university professor and rector of the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

. He studied theology in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and Zagreb. He was ordained for a priest in 1873. He received his Ph.D. in 1876 at the Faculty of Theology of the Royal University of

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

. He was professor and chair of the Archiepiscopal Gymnasium in Zagreb. He became a

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

at the Faculty of Theology in 1877, and a full professor in 1881. He served as the dean of the faculty in two mandates. Baron was selected as a rector of the University of Zagreb in the academic year 1885/1886. The topic of his inaugural speech was the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. After his rectorship mandate expired, he served as a prorector for a year. In 1887 he was appointed as papal agent. He was the

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and the rector of the Theological Seminary in Zagreb in the period 1897-1907, and a general

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

from 1912 until his death. He was one of the founders of the Croatian Catholic movement and a reviver of church singing tradition.

References

Baron's biography
at the University of Zagreb website {{DEFAULTSORT:Baron, Gustav 1847 births 1914 deaths People from Kutina 20th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests Croatian Roman Catholic theologians Rectors of the University of Zagreb 19th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests