István Szelmár, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

István Szelmár

Slovene priest and writer

Date of Birth: 23-Oct-1820

Place of Birth: Grad, Grad, Slovenia

Date of Death: 15-Feb-1877

Profession: writer, Catholic priest, translator

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

István Szelmár, also known in Slovene as Števan Selmar (23 October 1820 – 15 February 1877) was a Slovene Roman Catholic priest and writer in the Kingdom of Hungary. His original surname was Szlámár (Slamar).
His father's name was Mihály Szlámár.
However, in the historical Wendic March (the modern Prekmurje and Vendvidék) the Slovene names of the population were frequently altered, insofar as they were registered by the Hungarian authorities, which often misspelled them. Szelmár was born in Grad (Felsolendva), and was ordained on 20 July 1845, in Szombathely.
From 1845 to 1846 he served as chaplain in Crenšovci, and between 1856-1860 in Turnišce.
In 1860 he became priest in Kancevci, and in the end of 1876 he was retired.
He died in Ivanovci. He wrote books in the Prekmurje dialect of Slovene, and was thus an influential representative of the local Slovene literature in the Kingdom of Hungary.
In 1873 he translated the Hungarian book by Alajos Róder Bibliai Történetek (History of the Bible).
The Slovenian translation is called Zgodbe Sztaroga i Nóvoga Zákona (Stories of the Old and New Testament).