He asked people to donate money in 1905 for a new church in his hometown of Černová, which is nowadays a borough of Ružomberok. He himself donated money. Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka could not consecrate the church once it was completed, though.
Listen to the podcast:History class: The SNP explained in under 30 minutes Read more Hlinka strongly criticised politics in Budapest because in the early 20th century, the Hungarian part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, of which Budapest was the capital, was oppressing minorities in an attempt to create one homogeneous Hungarian nation. And oppression hit Slovaks hard, too.
For his disobedience, a Hungarian-speaking bishop based in the Spiš Region, pressured by Budapest authorities, stripped Hlinka of his robe for a long time, preventing him from consecrating the church.
People in Černová tried in October 1907 to change the date set by the bishop several times, but they were unsuccessful. Instead, slaughter of 15 Černová inhabitants took place on the consecration date of October 27. It was the police of Slovak origin that opened fire, although oppression came from Budapest.
Listen to the latest episode:
Dozens were injured and later sentenced to months in prison for their “riot”.
The church in Černová was eventually consecrated on June 29, 1910, by Hlinka himself after the Vatican declared its support for him.
Listen to the forgotten story of the 1907 Černová Tragedy, in which armed culprits became witnesses and unarmed victims the culprits.
Sources: Historická Revue (history magazine), Tragédia v Černovej a slovenská spoločnosť - The Černová Tragedy and Slovak Society (book by R. Holec, 1997), Černová 1907 (book by R. Letz, 2017).
Listen to Spectacular Slovakia podcast via:
The Spectacular Slovakia podcast is delivered every week to subscribers of The Slovak Spectator directly in their inboxes. For more information on online subscription, click here.
24. Oct 2019 at 21:05 | Anna Fay , Peter Dlhopolec
