Alojzije (Aloysius) Viktor Cardinal Stepinac (May 8, 1898 – February 10, 1960) was a Croatian Catholic Prelate. Political prisoner. Blessed of the Catholic Church. By some people regarded contoversial because of his alleged collaboration with the World War II-era Croat Ustaše regime. May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... A prelate is a member of the clergy who either has ordinary jurisdiction over a group of people or ranks in precedence with ordinaries. ... Combatants Allies: • Soviet Union, • UK & Commonwealth, • USA, • France/Free France, • China, • Poland, • ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Japan, • Italy, • ...and others Casualties Military dead: 18 million Civilian dead: 33 million Full list Military dead: 7 million Civilian dead: 4 million Full list World War II, also known as the Second World... The UstaÅ¡e (often spelled Ustashe in English; singular UstaÅ¡a or Ustasha) was a Croatian far-right organisation put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers in 1941, in which they pursued nazi/fascist policies. ...

Biography

Stepinac was born in the village of Brezarić, in the parish of Krašić, which lies on the border of the Zumberak and Pokuplija regions south west of the capital of Zagreb. He was the fifth of eight children in his peasant family. In 1909 he moved to Zagreb to study in the classical gymnasium, and graduated in 1916. Just before his eighteenth birthday he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, trained and sent to serve on the Italian Front during World War I. In 1918 he was wounded in his leg, and captured by the Italians who held him for five months. After the formation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, he was no longer treated as an enemy soldier, and he instead volunteered into the Yugoslav legion that went to Salonica. A few months later, he was demobilised and returned home in the spring of 1919. 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Zagreb at night, from Sljeme Zagreb cathedral St. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 - The Royal Army Medical Corps first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ... Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Casualties 5 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) 3 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) World War I, also known as the First World... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Flag of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Croatian: Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba, Serbian: Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba or Држава Словенаца, Хрвата и Срба, Slovenian: Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a short-lived state formed from the southernmost parts of the... The White Tower The Arch of Galerius Map showing the Thessaloníki prefecture Thessaloníki (Θεσσαλονίκη) is the second-largest city of Greece and is the principal city and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

For service in the Allied army during WWI, he was awarded the "Star of Karađorđe", an award for heroism in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After the war he enrolled at the faculty of agronomy of the University of Zagreb, but left it after just one semester and returned home to help his father. In 1924, he travelled to Rome to begin studying to become a priest, and was consecrated as a priest on October 26, 1930. In 1931 he became a parish curate in Zagreb. KaraÄ‘orÄ‘e (Карађорђе, also Black George, George Czerny), (November 3, 1768? – July 13, 1817) was the leader of the First Serbian uprising against the Turks, and the founder of the House of KaraÄ‘orÄ‘ević. He was born ĐorÄ‘e Petrović. Because of his dark complexion and short temper he... The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a kingdom in the Balkans which existed from the end of World War I until World War II. It occupied an area made up of the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, and most of present-day Slovenia... Universitys emblem The University of Zagreb (Croatian SveučiliÅ¡te u Zagrebu) is the oldest Croatian university in continuous operation and also the oldest university in southeastern Europe. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Zagreb at night, from Sljeme Zagreb cathedral St. ...

He was appointed coadjutor to the see of Zagreb in 1934, after several other candidates by Pope Pius XI were rejected for political reasons. In 1937 Stepinac succeeded Anton Bauer as the archbishop of Zagreb, becoming one of the youngest archbishops in the Church's history, even though he was younger than the prescribed canonical age of 40. Archbishop Jerome Hanus of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Pope Pius XI (Latin: ), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922 and sovereign of Vatican City from 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. ...

Stepinac was the archbishop of Zagreb during WWII in the - Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945). During the earliest days of the installation of the Ustasha regime, Stepinac, like other influential Croatian leaders (notably Vladko Maček of the Croatian Peasant Party), supported the demise of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in favour of a new Croatian state. Stepinac publicly called on the Church to pray for the well being of the new state and for the Lord to fill the leader, Ante Pavelić, with a spirit of wisdom for the benefit of the nation and so forth. He would soon meet with Pavelić and other Ustaša officials, with some of them on several occasions. His reports to the Vatican about the Independent State of Croatia were also favourable. German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... The Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) is a was a Nazi puppet state founded during World War II when in April 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the forces of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, geographically encompassing most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia... The Ustaše (often spelled Ustashe in English; singular Ustaša or Ustasha) was a Croatian right-wing organisation put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers in 1941. ... The Croatian Peasant Party (Croatian: Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) was formed in 1905 by Stjepan Radić, a leading Croatian politician. ... The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a kingdom in the Balkans which existed from the end of World War I until World War II. It occupied an area made up of the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, and most of present-day Slovenia... Ante Pavelić Ante Pavelić (July 14, 1889 - December 28, 1959) was the leader and founding member of the Nazi Croatian Ustasha movement in the 1930s and later the leader of the so-called Independent State of Croatia. ...

On the other hand, Stepinac soon started calling on the government officials to ease the persecution of primarily Serbs and Jews, but others too. He continued communicating with the Ustaša leadership even after it was known that they were responsible for the concentration camps in Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška. His letters did, however, include calls to discern people who were allegedly individually responsible for wrongdoings from those who were racially profiled or just held as "hostages"; and requests to make various exceptions for people in mixed marriages and people who converted to Catholicism. Jasenovac was the largest concentration and extermination camp in Croatia during the World War II. It was established by the UstaÅ¡a regime of the Independent State of Croatia in August 1941 and headed by Miroslav Majstorović. It was dismantled in April 1945. ... Stara GradiÅ¡ka was a Jasenovac subcamp established in 1941 near the main camp. ...

He also used the pulpit to publicly condemn ethnic genocide against persecuted minorities. In one speech, he actually went so far to state that people of all Abrahamic religions, mentioning Romanies and "the despised Jews" by name, had the right to a decent life and the right to pray to God, and that this was a God-given right that no human government could interfere with. He was also involved directly and indirectly in numerous efforts to save hundreds of Jews, before and during the war. Reportedly the Ustaša government at this point agitated at the Holy See for him to be removed from the position of archbishop of Zagreb.

The most criticism about the Catholic Church in Croatia at the time refers to their lenience towards the fact that the mass religious conversions carried out by the clergy aligned with the Ustaše were merely a part of the persecution scheme aimed at the undesirable minorities — primarily the Serb Orthodox faithful. Stepinac did not seem to make any public attempts to criticize the government for persecuting the Serbs per se, but he was later quoted as giving out a secret message to the priests that "when this time of madness and savagery passes, those who converted out of their beliefs will remain in our Church, and the rest will, when the danger is gone, return to their own". Religious conversion is the adoption of new religious beliefs that differ from the converts previous beliefs; in some cultures (e. ... Early history The Serbs migrated to the Balkans during the reign of Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610-641). ...

After the war, the new Communist authorities convicted him for collaboration with the Ustaša regime. One of the documents introduced as incriminatory evidence at the trial was a letter that Stepinac was alleged to have written to the Pope in 1943, in which he expressed support for the mass conversion efforts of the Independent State of Croatia and for the state itself. Stepinac denied ever having written or signed it, while the prosecutor claimed that a copy with Stepinac's signature on it existed. The letter was accepted as evidence. Collaboration, literally, consists of working together with one or more other people. ...

After the trial, he was found guilty of treason and war crimes on October 11, 1946 and given an extended prison sentence. However he only served five (of the initial sixteen) years in prison before the sentence was commuted to home arrest in Krašić. This trial was part of a wider affair of involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustaša regime. Treason also commonly refers to a book by Ann Coulter In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation or state. ... A war crime is a punishable offense, under international law, for violations of the law of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... During World War II a number of Croatian Catholic priests, and some of the then bishops in the territory, cooperated with the UstaÅ¡a regime, who ran a Nazi puppet state that pursued a genocidal policy against the Serbs (who were Eastern Orthodox Christians), Jews and Roma. ...

He was made cardinal on January 12, 1953 by Pope Pius XII during his imprisonment (with a note that he was "impeded"), a move which infuriated Tito's government in Yugoslavia. Stepinac was also prevented from travelling to the conclave of 1958. A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the Pope and appointed by him as a member of the College of Cardinals during a consistory. ... January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Josip Broz Tito (May 7, 1892 - May 4, 1980) was the ruler of Yugoslavia between the end of World War II and his death in 1980. ... con·clave (knklv, kng-) n. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1953, Stepinac was diagnosed with polycythemia. Seven years later, he died of thrombosis at the age of 62. 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Polycythemia is a condition in which there is a net increase in the total circulating erythrocyte (red blood cell) mass of the body. ... Thrombosis is the formation of a clot or thrombus inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. ...

On February 14, 1992, the Croatian Parliament symbolically overturned the 1946 court decision and condemned the process that led to it. February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The parliament of Croatia is called Hrvatski Sabor in Croatian - the word sabor means an assembly, a gathering, a congress. ...

Cardinal Stepinac was recommended on two occasions by two individual Croatianized Jews from Croatia to be added to the list of Righteous Among the Nations, but the requests were swiftly denied because the proposers were not Holocaust survivors themselves, which is a requirement for inclusion in the list. Also a simultaneous collaboration or a close link with the fascist regime would preclude listing, according to a statement made by the Yad Vashem spokesperson. After World War II, the term Righteous Among the Nations (Hebrew language: חסידי אומות העולם, transliterated Khasidei Umot HaOlam) has been used to describe non-Jews who behaved heroically during the Holocaust in order to save Jews from the Nazi-instigated genocide. ... Selection at the Auschwitz ramp in 1944, where the Nazis chose whom to kill immediately and whom to use as slave labor or for medical experimentation. ... Yad Vashem memorial sculpture Yad Vashem (יד ושם) is Israels official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust established in 1953 through the Memorial Law passed by the Knesset, Israels parliament. ...

Stepinac was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 3, 1998. This enfuriated Serb nationalists and aroused much controversy among Jews. The Simon Wiesenthal Center asked for the beatification to be postponed pending further investigation into his affairs related to the Second World War. In Catholicism, beatification (from Greek μακαριος, makarios) is a recognition accorded by the church of a dead persons accession to Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name (intercession of saints). ... Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef WojtyÅ‚a (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as pope of the Roman Catholic Church for almost 27 years, from October 16, 1978 until his death, making his the second-longest pontificate. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish organization that declares itself to be a human rights group dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust by fostering tolerance and understanding through community involvement, educational outreach and social action. ...

External links

• Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac
• Patron Saints Index - Blessed Alojzije Stepinac
• Documents about Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac from the Pavelic Papers