Francis Trasuns (October 16, 1864 – April 6, 1926) was a Latgalian

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, theologian and politician. He was a member of the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(in 1906) and a member of the Latvian

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

(1922–1926). All his life, Trasuns was an active promoter and protector of the

Latgalian language Latgalian (''latgalīšu volūda'', lv, latgaliešu valoda) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch often spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. It is debated whether it is a separate language with heavy Latvian ...

and culture.

Early life and education

Trasuns was a student of the

Jelgava Gymnasium Jelgava Gymnasium or Academia Petrina is the oldest higher educational establishment in Latvia. Based on an idea by , it was established in Jelgava, Mitau, capital of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, by Duke Peter von Biron in 1775. The duke ...

, then from 1883 to 1887 he studied in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

's theological seminary, and eventually, in 1887, he joined the

Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy The Imperial Roman Catholic Theological Academy (russian: Императорская Римско-Католическая Духовная Академия) was an institution of higher education preparing Roman Catholic theologians in the Russia ...

and graduated it in 1891. From 1902, Trasuns worked as a professor in the Saint Petersburg's theological seminary. One of his achievements was that some of his lectures were held in the Latgalian language.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trasuns, Francis 1864 births 1926 deaths People from Rēzekne Municipality People from Rezhitsky Uyezd 19th-century Roman Catholic priests from the Russian Empire Latgalian Christian Peasant and Catholic Party politicians Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Members of the People's Council of Latvia Deputies of the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia Deputies of the 1st Saeima Deputies of the 2nd Saeima Latvian theologians