János Szlepecz ( or ''Ivan Slepec'', June 14, 1872 – June 29, 1936) was a Slovene

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest, dean, and writer. He wrote in the

Prekmurje Slovene Prekmurje Slovene, also known as the Prekmurje dialect, Eastern Slovene, or Wendish (, , Prekmurje Slovene: ''prekmürski jezik, prekmürščina, prekmörščina, prekmörski jezik, panonska slovenščina''), is the language of Prekmurje in Easte ...

dialect and also in Hungarian. He was born in

Murska Sobota Murska Sobota (, Slovenian abbreviation: ''MS'' ; ;''Radkersburg und Luttenberg'' (map, 1:75,000). 1894. Vienna: K.u.k. Militärgeographisches Institut. ) is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Murska Sob ...

Vas County Vas (, ; ; or ; ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') of Hungary. It was also one of the counties of the former Kingdom of Hungary. It is part of the Centrope Project. Geography Vas County lies in weste ...

of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

(present-day

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

), where his father Iván Szlepecz was a blacksmith in the market town; his mother was Julianna Czigány.Slovenia Ministry of Culture website, ''Janos Slepec''
/ref> Starting in 1896, he served as chaplain for ten years for the Szapáry family, and then in 1906 as the parish priest of Murska Sobota. In 1913, after the death of

Ferenc Ivanóczy Ferenc () is a given name of Hungarian origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, Francesco, François, Frank and Franz. People with the name include: * Ferenc Batthyány (1497–1566), Hungarian magnate and general * Ferenc Bene (1944–20 ...

, he became dean of the Slovene March. Szlepecz initially opposed the autonomy of the Slovene March (

Prekmurje Prekmurje (; Prekmurje Slovene: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; ) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally, and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarians in Slovenia, Hungarian minority, lying betwee ...

) and supported

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. He later shifted his position and supported the

Prekmurje Slovenes The Prekmurje Slovenes () are Slovenes from Prekmurje in Slovenia and Vendvidék and Somogy in Hungary. The Prekmurje Slovenes speak the Prekmurje Slovene dialect and have a common culture. The Hungarian Slovenes ''(Porabski Slovenci)'' and So ...

. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he maintained the liturgy in Prekmurje Slovene in St. Nicholas's Church. After the occupation of the

Republic of Prekmurje The Republic of Prekmurje (; ; Prekmurje Slovene: ''Reszpublika Szlovenszka okroglina'', ''Mörszka Reszpublika'') was an unrecognized state in Prekmurje, an area traditionally known in Hungarian as ''Vendvidék '' (" Wendic March"). On June ...

, Szlepecz was taken hostage by the Hungarian

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

. In 1918, Szlepecz was the bishopric vicar in

Szombathely } Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...

and in 1922 the honorary vicar in

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

. Before the First World War, he published articles in Hungarian in ''Szombathelyi Újság'' and ''Muraszombat és vidéke'', and articles in Slovene in ''Marijin list'', ''Novine'', and ''Kalendar Srca Jezušovoga''. He also translated the Gospels into Prekmurje Slovene. János Szlepecz died in Murska Sobota after a stroke.

Literature

* Géfin Gyula A Szombathelyi Egyházmegye története: 1777–1935 III. kötet,

Martineum Ny., 1935.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szlepecz, Janos 1872 births 1936 deaths People from Murska Sobota 19th-century Slovenian Roman Catholic priests Slovenian writers and poets in Hungary 20th-century Slovenian Roman Catholic priests

Literature

See also

References