STOJAN, ANTONÍN CYRIL. - Archbishop of Olomouc, b. 22 May 1851 at Beňov in Moravia, d. there 29 Sept. 1923.
From a modest family of farmers, he studied theology at Olomouc. Ordained a priest in 1876, he devoted himself to the care of souls until 1917, when he was appointed canon of the chapter. From 1920 he governed the diocese as capitular vicar and from 1921 as archbishop. An excellent organizer, he developed an intense religious, cultural and social activity, also on the national level. With great pilgrimages to the shrines of Hostýn and Velehrad he renewed the religious life of the popular masses, and with spiritual retreats that of intellectuals. From 1897 he was a deputy in the Vienna Parliament and then from 1920 a senator of the Czechoslovak Republic. He promoted the Christian social movement in the spirit of the pontifical encyclicals, founding, among other things, in 1907 the association of Catholic agrarian youth (Omladina).
He made effective use of his parliamentary mandate in favor of charitable, cultural and religious works and institutions. In order to promote the union of dissidents with the Catholic Church, in 1891 he promoted the pious union « Apoštolát sv. S. Cyrila a Metoděje », later spread in various other Slavic countries, and from which in 1910 there arose the publication of a popular monthly. To the same purpose, but on the scientific plane, S. organized three international unionistic Congresses at Velehrad. The Academia Velehradensis, established by S. in 1910, was to ensure the continuation of the unionistic congresses and the scholarly editions on the Christian East. During the war of 1914-15 the archbishop was lavish with aid and support on behalf of political persecutees, including the Italians evacuated from Trentino. He can be defined as the most characteristic and popular figure of the Czech clergy in modern times. He died in the fame of sanctity, and his beatification process has been initiated.
Bibliography
Giuseppe Olär