Alojzij Šuštar

Archbishop Alojzij Šuštar, Emeritus of the See of Ljubljana, was born on November 14, 1920, in Grmada near Trebnje, Slovenia. Graduating with honors from the Diocesan High School of Šentvid, in the fall of 1941, the Bishop of Ljubljana, Gregory Rozman, sent him to Rome in order to pursue further studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, earning a licentiate in philosophy and a doctorate in theology. He was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 26, on October 27, 1946, in Rome. Suffering from tuberculosis, he moved to Switzerland for medical treatment, serving in the meantime as chaplain for the city of St. Moritz between 1949 and 1951. He also served among others as professor of philosophy and religious studies at the Maria Hilf Lyceum in Schwyzu between 1951 and 1963, and as permanent secretary of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), based in St. Gallen from 1971 till 1976. Šuštar lived abroad, mainly in Italy, Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland between 1941 and 1977, establishing connections with various public figures in Switzerland and elsewhere around Europe. Shortly after his return to his native country in 1977, Pope John Paul II, appointed him Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Ljubljana, on February 23, 1980. Monsignor Šuštar received his episcopal consecration on April 13, 1980, from Archbishop Michele Cecchini, assisted by Bishops Johannes Vonderach and Stanislav Lenic, at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Slovakian independence, Šuštar received the highest state decoration for his important role in Slovenia's independence and became an honorary citizen of the city of Ljubljana in 1998. He retired from the pastoral government of his see after seventeen years in office on March 5, 1997, and was succeeded by Monsignor Franc Rodé. The Archbishop died at St. Stanislav's Institution in Šentvid, where he lived and worked during his retirement, on Friday June 29, 2007, aged 86, after years of frail health, and lies interred inside the Metropolitan Cathedral of Ljubljana. On Sunday, July 1, 2012, a life-size monument of the Archbishop was unveiled in front of the parish church of his native Trebnje.