Lovrenc Lavtižar

Plaque commemorating Lavtižar in Assumption Church, Kranjska Gora

The Vavčar farm in Srednji Vrh, the birthplace of Lovrenc Lavtižar

Lovrenc Lavtižar (December 11, 1820 – December 3, 1858), also known as Lawrence Lautishar,[1] was a Slovene missionary in Minnesota.[2]

Biography

Lavtižar was born in the village of Srednji Vrh in Upper Carniola and baptized Lorenz Lautischar.[3] He was ordained on August 3, 1845 in Ljubljana,[1][2][4] after which he worked in Trebelno and Dobrova.[2] In 1854 he traveled as a missionary to the Native American tribes in Michigan, where he worked with Frederic Baraga and Ignatius Mrak in L'Arbre Croche (now Harbor Springs).[1][4] Francis Xavier Pierz invited him to Minnesota in 1857, where he was assigned to the Red Lake Indian Reservation. Lavtižar froze to death during a blizzard while returning across the ice of Red Lake after attending to a dying member of his congregation.[1][4] He was buried by Pierz in Crow Wing, Minnesota on December 26, 1858.[2] He was reburied at Calvary Cemetery in Duluth, Minnesota on September 22, 1892, with a burial service presided over by James Trobec.[4]

References

1. Walling, Regis M., & N. Daniel N. Rupp (eds.). 1990. The Diary of Bishop Frederic Baraga: First Bishop of Marquette, Michigan. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, pp. 59-60.
2. Lukman, Franc Ksaver, et al. (eds.). 1932. Slovenski biografski leksikon, vol. 4, Kocen–Lužar. Ljubljana: Zadružna gospodarska banka.
3. Tauf-Register. Kranjska Gora. 1812–1825. p. 41. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
4. Acta et Dicta, vol. 5. 1917. St. Paul, MN: Catholic Historical Society of St. Paul, p. 240.

External links

• Lawrence Lautishar at Find a Grave