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THE BLESSED ALOJZIJE STEPINAC A Short Biography
Alojzije Stepinac was the fifth of eight children born to the
pious and hard working family of Josip and Barbara (née Penic)
Stepinac. He was born in the village of Brezaric, parish of Krašic,
forty kilometers from Zagreb on May 8, 1898. The next day, he
was baptized as Alojzije Viktor. Alojzije completed elementary
school in Krašic. In 1909, while boarding at the Archdiocesan
orphanage, he began attending the Classical Gymnasium (secondary
school) in the Upper Town of Zagreb. After the sixth grade, he
applied as a candidate for the priesthood. On June 28, 1916, he
graduated ahead of schedule, after which he was mobilized into
the Austrian army. Following six months of officers' training
in Rijeka, he was sent to the Italian front near Gorizia. During
battles around the Piave River in June 1918, he was captured by
the Italians and released as a "Salonika volunteer" in December
1918. In the spring of 1919, he was demobilized. In the autumn
of 1919, he enrolled in the College of Agronomy of the University
of Zagreb. However, he soon left school and devoted himself to
farming in his native village. During this period, he was active
among the ranks of Catholic youth. In accordance with his father's
wishes, he considered marriage for a time. In the summer of 1924,
he decided upon the priestly calling. That autumn, Archbishop
Antun Bauer of Zagreb sent him to the Roman Collegium Germanicum
et Hungaricum. From 1924 to 1931, he studied at the Pontifical
Gregorian University. On October 26, 1930, he was ordained as
a priest in Rome. He celebrated his first Mass in Santa Maria
Magiore. Beside him was his younger colleague Franjo Šeper, who
later became his successor to the cathedra of the Zagreb Archdiocese,
a cardinal and the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith. In July 1931, as a double laureate in philosophy
and theology, Alojzije Stepinac returned to his homeland. At the
time, the Yugoslav military dictatorship was at its height and
the authorities made particular attempts to undermine the Catholic
Church. At the palace of the archbishop, Alojzije Stepinac performed
the duties of master of ceremonies. For a brief period, he was
the administrator of several parishes in order to resolve disputes
between the parishioners and priests. In his free time, he devoted
himself to charitable activity. On November 23, 1931, at his initiative,
Archbishop Bauer established the diocesan Caritas. On May 28,
1934, Pope Pius XI appointed Alojzije Stepinac as coadjutor archbishop
with the right of succession. He was the youngest bishop in the
world at the time, thirty-six years of age with less than four
years in the priesthood. On the Feast of St. John, June 24, 1934,
he was ordained as a bishop in the Zagreb Cathedral. Archbishop
Bauer immediately involved him in intensive pastoral activity
throughout the archdiocese. After the death of Archbishop Bauer
on December 7, 1937, Alojzije Stepinac directly assumed the administration
of the Zagreb Diocese, and soon the presidency of the Conference
of Bishops of Yugoslavia. As the shepherd of the Zagreb Church,
he attempted to meet as often as possible with the clergy and
believers throughout the archdiocese. He encouraged universal
spiritual renewal, particularly Eucharistic and Marian devotions.
Pastoral activity among families and young people, with maximum
participation by the laity in Catholic activity, were close to
his heart. He supported good Catholic press (and began the Catholic
daily Hrvatski Glas). He also initiated the publication of an
entirely new translation of the Holy Scripture. Archbishop Stepinac
established many new parishes, fourteen in Zagreb alone. He participated
in the direct pastoral activity of nearly all the orders and societies.
In Brezovica, he established the first Carmelite Convent in Croatia.
Together with all the Croatian bishops, he worked on plans for
the celebration of the 1,300th anniversary of the bond between
Croatia and the Holy See (641-1941), which was postponed due to
the war until 1984 when it was commemorated in Marija Bistrica.
During the Second World War, following the German occupation of
Yugoslavia, the Independent State of Croatia was established with
the backing of the Axis Powers. Stepinac did not associate himself
during this period with any political party or movement. He was
consistent in his patriotism but first and foremost faithful to
his pastoral calling. Archbishop Stepinac freely and fearlessly
publicly condemned racial, ideological and political persecution.
In public appearances and numerous written interventions, he courageously
insisted upon respect for each person, regardless of race, nationality,
religion, sex or age. Faithful to the gospel, he tirelessly condemned
crimes against humanity and all other injustices. In April 1941,
immediately upon the passage of the racial laws, he sent an emphatic
protest to the authorities. Archbishop Stepinac saved persecuted
Jews, Serbs, Gypsies, Slovenes, Poles and Croatian communists.
During the early months following the establishment of the Croatian
state, Archbishop Stepinac immediately intervened and stated:
"According to Catholic morality, it is never permitted to kill
a hostage for transgressions that others have committed." On October
25, 1942, in the Zagreb Cathedral he stated: "Every nation and
every race on the earth, has the right to a life worthy of a person
and to treatment worthy of a person. All without differentiation,
whether members of the Gypsy race or any others, whether black
or distinguished Europeans, despised Jews or haughty Aryans, have
the same right to say: "Our Father who art in Heaven!" And if
God has granted this right to all, what human authorities can
negate it?" He opposed forced religious conversions but when he
could not prevent them, he gave the clergy confidential instructions:
to accept people into the Catholic Church in order to save their
lives without any conditions whatsoever, because "when this time
of insanity and barbarity passes, those who converted due to conviction
will remain in our Church, while the others, when the danger passes,
will return to their own." He was petitioned by the poor and persecuted
from all sides. He received three hundred priests who had been
driven out of Slovenia. His Caritas helped not only endangered
Croats but all others: Serbs, Jews, Slovenes, Poles etc. Due to
all this, particularly his condemnation of fascist and Nazi persecutions,
he became a persona non grata to the authorities. Hitler's Gestapo
prepared a plan to kill him and the authorities tried many times
to have the Holy See remove him from the cathedra of the archbishop
of Zagreb. After the end of the Second World War, in Croatia as
in all of Yugoslavia, the government was taken over by the communist
party that was imbued with Bolshevik ideology, especially militant
atheism. Archbishop Stepinac was arrested on May 17, 1945 and
imprisoned until June 3. The next day, June 4, Tito, himself,
had a conversation with him. From this conversation and from a
conversation that took place two days previously between Tito
and representatives of the Catholic clergy in Zagreb, it was clear
that the new regime wanted a "national Catholic Church," independent
of the Holy See. To Stepinac, this meant undermining the heart
of Catholic unity . It was soon evident that vehement persecution
of the Church was planned, directed not only at the bishops and
priests but at the faithful. An unprecedented media campaign was
waged against the Church, especially against Archbishop Stepinac.
This campaign would continue with varying intensity until the
historical departure of communism from the European political
scene. Therefore, in September 1945 Archbishop Stepinac convened
the Bishops' Conference to discuss the new situation. On September
22, the bishops issued a Pastoral Letter that courageously documented
all the violence and injustice that the new authorities had perpetrated
both during and after the war against religion and the Church,
and also against the freedom of conscience of its citizens. There
followed even more furious persecution, centered against Archbishop
Stepinac of Zagreb. Physical attacks also began, such as stoning
in Zaprešic near Zagreb on November 4, 1945. After this, the archbishop
was was forced to refrain from going outside for pastoral activity.
In January 1946, the authorities asked the new papal envoy, Hurley,
to have the Holy See remove Archbishop Stepinac from his cathedra
in Zagreb. After increasingly violent insults and attacks against
Archbishop Stepinac, he was rearrested on September 18, 1946.
On September 30, he was brought to trial before a rigged court.
His famous address to the court on October 3 was not merely a
defense but a condemnation of the unlawfulness of the court and
a profession of his holy faith for which he was prepared to sacrifice
his life. On the basis of coerced statements and false testimony,
even counterfeit documents, on October 11, 1946 Archbishop Stepinac
was sentenced to sixteen years of prison and forced labor and
for an additional five years he was to be deprived of all civil
rights. On October 19, 1946, Archbishop Stepinac began serving
his sentence at the correctional facility in Lepoglava where he
remained until December 5, 1951. Indeed, he was permitted to celebrate
the Mass and read theological books but he was kept in total isolation,
subjected to constant humiliations, stress and most likely also
poisoning, which caused his health to deteriorate greatly. According
to witnesses in the process for his beatification, he was on a
list of prisoners to be liquidated. After 1,864 days spent in
the Lepoglava prison, on December 5, 1951, he was transferred
to serve the remainder of his sentence under internment in his
native Krašic. During his internment, on January 12, 1953 he was
named a cardinal by Pope Pius XII. This caused the Yugoslav government
to sever diplomatic relations with the Holy See. Archbishop Stepinac
was not able to travel to Rome to receive his cardinal's crimson
nor was he able to go to the conclave upon the death of Pope Pius
XII, because it was not certain that he would be able to return
to his homeland and he wanted to remain with his nation at all
costs. Under internment, still strictly isolated, he devoted himself
to the apostolate of writing. He wrote thousands of pages of sermons
and other religious compositions. He sent over 5,000 letters to
many bishops, priests and believers, of which approximately 700
have been preserved, as a person of living faith, unshakable hope
and total surrender to God, encouraging, comforting and inspiring
the recipients, particularly in constant faith and Church unity.
In these letters, as during his trial and entire period of imprisonment,
he showed sincere love toward those persons who had persecuted
and unjustly accused him. Prayers for enemies and forgiveness
to all were constant subjects of his statements and writings,
as well as in his three final testaments. In the spring of 1953,
pre-existing illnesses that had begun in Lepoglava polycythemia
rubra vera, thrombosis of the leg and bronchial catarrh became
more acute. Systematic hospital care would have been needed, although
his attending physicians, under strict control by the regime,
did what they could. He refused any privileged medical treatment
that could have signalled that he had made concessions to his
unjust judges and the regime, which might have shaken the resolve
and spiritual fortitude of the clergy and others. Thus, increasingly
severe pain became a part of his life during imprisonment, which
he endured patiently until his death. He died in saintliness yon
February 10, 1960 while still serving his unjust sentence. His
death, as expressed by the vocabulary of martyrdom was "ex aerumnis
carceris from the toll of imprisonment," praying for his persecutors
and with the Lord's words on his lips: "Father, Thy will be done!"
His virtuous life and martyred death were recognized by God's
people. He was venerated during his life and particularly after
his death.
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