Josip Srebrnič
Encyclopedia
Josip Srebrnič, also spelled Srebrnić (2 February 1876 - 21 June 1966) was a Slovene Roman Catholic prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...

 who spent most of his career in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

.

Born in a Slovene-speaking family in Solkan
Solkan
Solkan is a suburb of the town of Nova Gorica in the Goriška region of western Slovenia, close to the border with Italy. Although it is nowadays completely integrated into Nova Gorica, with which it forms a single urban area, it has maintained the status of a separate urban settlement, due to its...

, a suburb of Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...

 (now part of Nova Gorica
Nova Gorica
Nova Gorica ; 21,082 ; 31,000 ) is a town and a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy...

, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

), he was consacrated priest in 1906. In 1923, he became Bishop of Krk in Croatia, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He served as bishop on the island of Krk
Krk
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....

 for almost forty year, until 1961. During this long period, he publicly defended the freedom of the Roman Catholic Church against different authorities. He opposed the unificatory tendencies of the nationalist dictatorship of king Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...

; in 1932, he published a booklet under the title "Freedom to the Church!" (Crkvi slobodu!), in which he denounced the educational and cultural policies of Alexander's royal dictatorship. Between 1941 and 1943, he voiced his opposition against the chauvinist anti-Croatian policies of the Italian Fascist
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...

 occupation forces, and organized humanitarian help for the prisoners of the Italian Rab concentration camp
Rab concentration camp
The Rab concentration camp was an Italian concentration and internment camp on the Adriatic island of Rab, now part of the Republic of Croatia, during World War II. The camp was located at...

, which was established on the territory under his ecclesiastical jurisdiction. He continued to publicly defend personal and human rights of his flock during the Nazi German occupation regime (1943-1945). After 1945, he was critical of the anti-Catholic policies of the Yugoslav Communist regime.

He died in Krk
Krk (town)
Krk is the main settlement of the island of Krk, Croatia.-Characteristics:It is located on the southwest coast of the island and is the historical seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Krk.The city is ancient, being among the oldest in the Adriatic...

, and was buried in the Krk Cathedral
Krk Cathedral
The Krk Cathedral or fully Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a cathedral in the town of Krk on the northern Adriatic island of Krk, Croatia. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Krk...

.

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