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II. A Brief Biography Alojzije Stepinac was born in the village of Krasic, near Zagreb, on May 8, 1898. He was the fifth of nine children from the second marriage of his father Josip, a rich vine-grower, and mother Barbara (née Peric), after Josip's first wife (Marija Matko, with whom he had three children) had died. Stepinac attended primary school in Krasic, and then high school in Zagreb from 1909 till 1915. After completing the sixth year of high school he transferred to the archdiocesan lycee, with a serious intention of devoting himself to the priesthood. He was then suddenly drafted into the army, meaning he had to pass the eighth year and graduate ahead of schedule. After that he was sent to a school for reserve officers in Rijeka. Since the First World War was gaining momentum, Stepinac, after only six months of training, was dispatched as a lieutenant to the Italian front (1917-18) where he commanded a unit of soldiers from Bosnia. Toward the end of the war family in Kraic received his belongings and documents with the news that their son Alojzije had been killed. His family and relatives were grief-stricken, and a memorial service was held for him in the local catholic church. One week later Stepinac sent a telegram from an Italian prison-camp. He was held captive at the Mastre, Ferrare and Nocera-Umbra prisoner-camps until 6 December 1918. This period saw the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the creation of the first Yugoslav state called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (December 1, 1918). In order to escape further captivity, Stepinac voluntarily enlisted in the Yugoslav legion and, like other volunteers from Russian and Italian camps, was sent to the Salonika front. After being demobilised in the spring of 1919, he went back home and enrolled at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Zagreb. However, because many things did not suit him in the town and because he was burdened by fresh war traumas, he returned to the countryside and for some time worked on his father's estate. One of his sisters wrote the following about him: "He works hard, cuts the grass, sprays vineyards, ploughs, drives a cart of wine, holding the leading-reins in one hand and a rosary in the other, to Karlovac because there is a lot of wine for sale and our father is a thriving wine-grower." (Beluhian, 1967, p. 23). During this time he fell in love and got engaged. As the wedding approached, his fiancé, a young teacher named Marija Horvat, changed her mind. She returned the ring saying that they "don't belong together". They parted in peace, as friends. Soon afterwards, while he was at university in Rome, she was killed in a road accident. Late in 1924, at the age of 26, Stepinac made a firm decision to become a priest and attended the famous Collegium Germanicum in Rome (for centuries a producer of bishops and cardinals). Winning an American scholarship, he later studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University and within seven years gained a Ph.D. in theology and philosophy. Apart from Croatian, he spoke and wrote Italian, French, German and Italian. On the occasion of his birth, his mother had taken a vow to fast on bread and water twice a week so that he might become a priest. She had observed her vow for 32 years, indeed, up to the time Stepinac took holy orders in Rome in 1930. In the years following his first Holy Mass he performed his duties as the archdiocesan master of ceremonies in the Zagreb cathedral and temporary administrator of parishes in Samobor and St. Ivan Zelina. The Archbishop of Zagreb, Antun Bauer, told him that he would be named as his successor and asked for his formal consent. After several days of contemplation, Stepinac refused, saying he considered himself to be unfit for the incumbency of a bishop. Archbishop Bauer, however, persisted. The Vatican's decision in favour of Stepinac was firm, and since the Belgrade authorities had given their consent, Stepinac yielded in the end. On May 30, 1934, the Vatican paper L' Osservatore Romano, followed by the Zagreb newspapers a day later, published the news that Pope Pius XI had appointed Dr Alojzije Stepinac as Coadjutor Archbishop, with the right to succession to Zagreb's Archbishop's seat. Stepinac was completely unknown to the Croatian public, although all European newspapers had published the news of the appointment of the youngest archbishop in the world. Stepinac was sincerely thankful for all the congratulations, but said that he was not enthusiastic about the appointment because it was too heavy a cross for him. His father died in Kraic that same year at the age of 84 while his mother Barbara would live to see his consecration as bishop and his imprisonment. She died in Zagreb in 1948 at the age of 82. Immediately after the death of Archbishop Bauer, he assumed the administration of the Zagreb archdiocese (7 December 1937), under the very difficult religious, social, political and economic conditions both in Croatia and throughout the world. In the pre-war years, with his devoted and inspired work, he advanced religious life on all levels throughout the Zagreb archdiocese and Croatia in general. He tried to appropriately prepare for the 1300th anniversary of the first contacts between the Croats and the Holy See and of the beginning of their baptism, to be celebrated in 1941. In the vortex of the war, Stepinac, confronted with both the Nazis and Communists, risked his life by continuing his struggle for the indisputable values of the Croatian people and for the basic rights of every man and every nation. He remained a defender of truth and morality and a protector of all imperilled people, irrespective of their religion and nationality, as testified by numerous documents and facts, some of which are presented in this paper. Following the change of government, Stepinac continued to work dauntlessly in accordance with his conscience. The communists knew that they could not accuse him of inhumanity, so they let him pursue his work undisturbed in the new circumstances. However, they were very disappointed that even after 15 months, they did not succeed in gaining his support and in persuading him to sever the Catholic Church in Croatia from the Holy See. Stepinac was arrested on September 18, 1946, and on September 30, 1946 he was promptly brought to trial. The charge against him could be summarised as follows: collaboration with the Germans; contacts with the Pavelic government; introduction of chaplains in the Croatian army; forced conversion of the Orthodox and resistance to the Communist authorities. Of the 35 registered witnesses for the defence, the court rejected as many as 27, among them some Serbs and Jews. Some were even detained, lest the defence reach them. On October 11, 1946, he was sentenced to "16 years imprisonment and hard labour, and the loss of political and civil rights for a period of five years." Archbishop Stepinac was imprisoned in Lepoglava until December 6, 1951, when he was placed under house arrest in his hometown, Kraic, where about 30 police officers were on guard to prevent any public contact. The conviction of Stepinac provoked a strong response world-wide. Protests arrived from all sides of the freed world - by statesmen, church dignitaries, writers and other public figures. There was almost not a single country in the world in which no sympathy for Stepinac was voiced. The protests world-wide were so forceful that the communist authorities thought to release Stepinac. With this end in view, the then Croatian Prime Minister, Dr Vladimir Bakaric, was personally engaged. As early as March 1947 he officially went to see Stepinac in Lepoglava and literally implored him to sign an already written request to Tito for amnesty, assuring him that he would be immediately set free and sent abroad. Stepinac not only flatly rejected this offer, but also demanded that his statement be passed on to Tito, in which he requested a review of the case before an independent, non-communist court. To the proposal of leaving the country he responded smilingly that he would never desert his people. On November 29, 1952, after Pope Pius XII named Archbishop Stepinac one of 14 new cardinals. A displeased government of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia broke off diplomatic relations with the Holy See on December 17, 1952. Stepinac's health started to deteriorate abruptly during his imprisonment in Kraic, and various inexplicable complications set in. Some expert opinions discreetly suggested that he was possibly poisoned during imprisonment. This was in accordance with the communist fervent desire that Stepinac might never again return to the archdiocesan seat in Zagreb, as well as with the fact that at that time two Croatian bishops were killed, one of them poisoned. These were Dr Janko imrak, Uniate Bishop of Krievac, and Dr Josip Caric, Bishop of Dubrovnik. Stepinac was recommended treatment abroad, which he rejected because the authorities refused to guarantee him a free return to his homeland. Despite all the medical efforts, he became terminally ill with polycythaemia - an abnormal increase in the number of circulating red blood cells. Forgiving all those who had done him harm and praying for his persecutors, fully conscious and poised, he passed away on February 10, 1960. Even before Cardinal Stepinac was placed in his tomb, poet Lucijan Kordic dedicated a poem to him, prophetically anticipating other times, which have come, marked by his beautification in 1988, and which are still to come. Glorious will be his Tomb
Simun Sito Coric II. A Brief Biography III. Archbishop Stepinac's Reply at the Trial IV.Statements about and by Stepinac V.A Selection of Books about Stepinac About the author Prices : 5DEM; 5USD
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