Venerable Janez Frančišek Gnidovec

Janez Frančišek Gnidovec, C.M. (29 September 1873 – 3 February 1939), was a Slovenian Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Bishop of Skopje. Gnidovec served as a pastor during World War I as a teacher and was appointed a bishop during a period of tension between Christianity and other faiths. His strong ecumenical communication skills dissipated tension and gained him both praise and recognition. Gnidovec was also a member of the Congregation of the Mission, which he joined in 1919. His cause of canonization commenced on 15 December 1977 under Pope Paul VI, and he was given the title Servant of God when the cause moved to the diocesan level. Pope Benedict XVI declared him Venerable on 27 March 2010. Janez Frančišek Gnidovec was born on 29 September 1873 in Slovenia into a poor farming household to devout parents in the village of Veliki Lipovec. He was baptized on 30 September that year. As a child, Gnidovec learned to recite the Angelus and to attend mass as his parents taught him. His childhood more or less ended when he was seven with the death of his mother. He worked on the farm with his father and tended cows and pigs as part of his chores. He started attending school at age seven in Ajdovec, where the school had only one grade. He continued his schooling in Novo Mesto and was an outstanding student. He lived in Novo Mesto while he was in school, and around this time he began to tutor other students in order to both support himself and not overburden his father. He graduated from a Franciscan-run high school with honors in 1892, and this allowed him to grow in faith following their example, and he even began attending mass daily to grow in the faith. Around this same time, his father died in February 1892. It was with the death of his father that he felt the need to spiritually reflect, and he went to his local priest for advice, eventually coming to the conclusion that he was destined for Holy Orders.