HILNKA, ANDREJ. - Apostolic protonotary and Slovak political figure, b. 27 Sept. 1864 at Černová, d. 16 Aug. 1938 at Ružomberok (Slovakia). Ordained priest in 1889, H. devoted himself to apostolic work by organizing social cooperatives, combating alcoholism, and actively engaging in teaching. In 1905 he became parish priest in the city of Ružomberok, where he had schools built, an orphanage established, founded a publishing house, and began his notable political and cultural activity. Founded in 1897 the newspaper Ľudové Noviny, he was first proposed as a candidate for the Parliament of Budapest the following year, and in 1905 he gave life to the Slovak People's Party, which aimed at the political and religious freedom of that nation. Thus, starting from 1923, the largest political party in Slovakia was formed, through which in 1938 the country's autonomy was achieved; with the communist Russian occupation of 1945 the party was suppressed.
After the 1906 elections H. incurred suspension from his Ordinary for political reasons and was simultaneously sentenced by the Hungarian authorities to three and a half years in prison, which he served in Szeged. During his imprisonment he retranslated the Holy Scriptures into Slovak; the ecclesiastical case was resolved in his favor in Rome, so that, upon his release from prison in 1910, he was able to resume possession of his parish and had a beautiful church built in his native village of Černová. But on 27 Oct. 1907, when the church was to be consecrated, a serious clash occurred between
with a population of 257,000 souls. According to 1948 statistics, diocesan priests number 48 and religious brothers 11, sisters 268, Catholics 39,000, Protestants 217,850, Jews 150. The seminarians study at the Seminaries of Melbourne and Sydney. There are 2 districts, 27 parishes, 59 secondary stations, 99 churches and chapels, 2 hospitals with 190 beds, 2 orphanages with 97 children, 31 elementary schools with 3,865 pupils, 5 middle schools with 740 pupils, 3 high schools with 345 pupils. The weekly periodical Standard is published there with a circulation of 2,900 copies.