Primoz Trubar, a Kingdom Story in Slovenia

Due to my professional engagements, I'm visiting the beautiful city of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. I am attending the First European Food Congress, where several subjects related to food such as health, nutrition, consumer behaviour, safety, etc. are being thorougly discussed.

Anyway, yesterday, on my way to the registration desk, I noticed that there was an exhibition in a nearby museum about a man called Primoz Trubar, and I could understand something about "protestant" in the title (my Slovenian is null). So, after registration, I visited the aforementioned museum. The guide told me the following story:

Primoz Trubar was a Bible believing Christian, who played a very important role in the history of Slovenia. He was very much influenced by the German reformers. The desire of his heart was that every Slovenian person could read the Bible (translated by Jurij Dalmatin). Therefore, he dedicated his life to the development of the Slovenian language. First he wrote a Catechism (a basic introduction to the faith), and he developed the first Slovenian alphabet (abecedarium). He didn't stop there. He founded several primary and popular schools where all children, boys and girls could go to learn the alphabet and other subjects like how to live decently in society. Moreover, Trubar was the pioneer of secondary education in Slovenia. Today's Slovenian language would not have existed if Trubar would not have taken the calling and contributed to the "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven". He was working FOR the Kingdom of God!

After few years, he was forced to exile in Germany ... the politics of the Austrian-Habsburgs in close collaboration with the RC Inquisition yielded in the persecution of this man. Tubar's work was prohibited and even the mention of his name was banned from all history textbooks until the early XX Century. In 2008 the Slovenian people celebrate the 500 anniversary of the birth of this man of God's Kingdom. Vindicated after centuries of forcedly being forgotten. The official Slovenian Government address can be read here. The official site of Trubar2008 is here with more detailed biographical information.

It was an inspiring visit!