CANON
IN ST. ANDRA® (ST. ANDREAS)
In 1844 Slom¹ek was confronted with new tasks. First
the bishop nominated him school inspector for schools
in the diocese of Lavant. This job took him two days
a week and so began his hard work stretched between
St. Andra¾ and Vuzenica. He endeavoured to introduce
a new spirit and a new life in the schools. It was
impossible to stand such a pressure for a long time.
The same year he left
Vuzenica and settled down in St. Andra¾ for two
years. For school children he wrote two prayerbooks:
one in Slovene (Angel for prayer) and another in German
(The holly service for children). This one was reprinted
nine times in the fiftieths. During this time he also
occupied himself a lot with singing. He wanted to
publish several books but he managed to publish just
one: "The school of merry singing for diligent school
children". The hymn book was published later, when
he was already bishop, but he never managed to arrange
the whole material of hymns and mass songs. Already
in 1844 he wanted to realize his daring idea that
Slovenes should have their own publishing house which
would publish good and cheap books for Slovene people.
In April 1845 the government refused his intention
and the publishing house was forbidden. Slom¹ek was
amazed but he didn't give up. Soon after he came to
a new decision: if there was no possibility to found
a Slovene literary society, it was at least possible
to write and spread Slovene books. The whole year
he prepared himself and invited other people to take
part in. At the beginning of the year 1864 the first
volume of "Small Crumbs" came out.
This anthology of short notes and ideas became so
popular that it was reprinted again and again many
years after Slom¹ek's death. Slom¹ek was a prolific
writer. In 16 years he had written about 1480 pages.
But this were not only "Small Crumbs". He wrote also
for different newspapers. His great wish was to translate
the whole Bible again but unfortunately only the translation
of the Pentateuch was completed. The translators were
more successful in Ljubljana under the leadership
of bishop Wolf.
Slom¹ek was more and more the right hand of the aged
and sick bishop Kutnar. He was his counsellor and
assistant in pastoral matters which was not easy at
that time. First it was necessary to care for the
priests. He introduced regular retreats for them,
strove for their holiness and kept an eye on the work
of the seminarians who were his greatest joy and concern.
Archbishop cardinal Schwarzenberg once said to Slom¹ek:
"You are reproached to strive too much for Slovene
people and their language!" But Slom¹ek answered:
"I don't mind it. The one who judges me, is my Lord.
Slovene mother gave me birth, let me be a faithful
son of Slovene language. I wish to cultivate my mother's
land until I find my final rest in it, if that is
the will of God..."
