Croatian Stamps


Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac

RH STAMP 1998 Alojzije Stepinac, cardinal and archbishop of the Zagreb Archbishopric, was born on May 8, 1898, in the village of Brezarici, the parish of Krasic. After having completed his education at the grammar school and the Diocesan divinity seminary of the Archbishopric in Zagreb, he was recruited and later taken prisoner of war on the Italian front and send to Salonika. He started studying at the Agricultural Faculty in Zagreb, but gave up his studies to return to the family estate in Krasic. Five years later, he decided to become a priest. He earned his doctorate in philosophy, and three years later also in theology, at the 'Gregoriana' in Rome. He took his vows in Rome in 1930, after which he returned to Zagreb where he became master of ceremonies and notary of the Archbishopric consistory in Zagreb. It was as early as 1934 when Pope Pius XI appointed him archbishop-coadjutor with the right of succession. Stepinac was then only 36 years old and this appointment to office aroused great surprise, but very soon he won the favour of both the believers and the young. As archbishop he was persevering and stimulating in all areas of church activities. He founded many new parishes on the territory of the Zagreb Archbishopric, had the shrine of Marija Bistrica reconstructed, had representatives of various ecclesiastical orders brought here (the Carmelite sisters in Brezovica) and instigated activities to unite the Croatian Catholic movement, founded the Caritas and the Diocesan museum. He condensed his pastoral programme into four points: freedom of the Church, faithfulness to Christ Our Lord, submission to God's will, giving oneself up to the brethren. He had the inscription "In te Domine speravi" (I have confidence in you, Oh Lord) written on his coat-of-arms.

Alojzije Stepinac took over the administration of the Zagreb Archbishopric at the time when the winds of the Second World War started blowing all over Europe. After the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) he demanded from the new authorities that God's law and commandments be built into the foundations of the new state. In his public appearances he firmly denounced any discrimination practised against the members of other nationalities, as well as the prosecution of ideological or political opponents of the current regime. In all his activities he took the side of the victims of persecution, took care of the orphans of war without regard as to the nationality or religion of their parents. He helped numerous Jews and Serbs to escape persecution, and he also helped the Slovene priests, banished by the Germans, by settling them into the parishes of the Zagreb Archbishopric. On May 31, 1943, he submitted to the State Secretary of the Holy See, cardinal Maglione, his petition and protest letters, with 34 documents regarding all the crimes committed on the territory of the Independent State of Croatia. On the eve of May 8, 1945, and the advent of the new communist authorities, he managed to save the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, from being destroyed by negotiating with the Germans.

A STAMP FROM EXILE Despite this, the new authorities considered the activity of the Church in Croatia during the war period to have been pro-Ustacha and charged Alojzije Stepinac with collaborating with the German occupational forces and the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia. The reasons were actually the fact that he had reproached the new communist authorities of committing crimes, tried to defend the personal rights and the rights to private property, as well as trying to prevent the plunder of the Church property. He turned down the proposition of the president of the newly established state of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, for the secession of the Croatian Catholic Church from Vatican. This was the reason for the mounted political trial when, on October 11, 1946, Alojzije Stepinac was sentenced to 16 years of hard labour and five years of loss of civilian rights. Though many Jews and Serbs appeared as witnesses for the cardinal who had saved them trom persecution and death, the communist Y ugoslav court did not allow their evidence to be taken into consideration. The cardinal was sent to the prison of Lepoglava, while the Serbian Orthodox Church and the communist authorities were doing everything in their power to impress upon the wide public at home and abroad that Aiojzije Stepinac was a great criminal.

A STAMP FROM EXILE Pope Pius XII rewarded the archbishop's courage in his defense of personal and God's rights by making him cardinal on January 12, 1953. Alojzije Stepinac continued the administration of the Archbishopric even while being prisoner, until he became very ill. He was being helped by Franjo Seper. While in the Lepoglava prison and afterwards, during the period when he was interned at the rectory in Krasic, he continued writing and translating theological works. He died on February 10, 1960, at the age of 62, exhausted by a long-term illness. He was buried in the Zagreb Cathedral, and his tomb has become the shrine of pilgrimage of numerous people who respect him. In 1981 the procedures for his canonization were set in motion.




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