Jožef Kerec (born ''Kerécz József'') (15 October 1892 in

Prosečka Vas Prosečka Vas (; sl, Prosečka vas, hu, Kölesvölgy) is a village in the Municipality of Puconci in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a cou ...

– 27 June 1974) was the first Slovene Salesian missionary in China. Kerec spent his childhood in the

, Prekmurje (by 1920 in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, Slovene March), where his family was from. Before departing for China, Kerec was politically active in Prekmurje. On 17 August 1919, a few days after Prekmurje became part of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

(colloquially called ''Yugoslavia''), he spoke at a big public rally in

Beltinci Beltinci (; Prekmurje Slovene: ''Böltinci'', hu, Belatinc or ''Belatincz'', ger, (Alt)Fellsdorf) is a town in the Prekmurje region of northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Beltinci. Črnec Creek, a tributary of the Ledav ...

in support of Slovenia and the Kingdom, because he was Slovene and Slave. As a missionary, Jožef Kerec departed to

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

in 1921, arrived there on 18 August 1921 and had his very first mass at all in Macau on 26 June 1923. He also worked in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and in China, where from 1939 till 1951 he was the

apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

in the city of Zhaotong. Kerec died and was buried in

Veržej Veržej () is a settlement in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Veržej. It lies on the right bank of the Mura River. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The municipality is now included in the Mura St ...

, Slovenia. A memorial plaque to him is on the wall of the parish church in

Pečarovci Pečarovci (; in older sources also ''Sveti Sebeštjan'', hu, Szentsebestyén, Prekmurje Slovene: ''Püčarovci'') is a village in the Municipality of Puconci in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia. There are two churches in the settlement. The Roma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerec, Jozef 1892 births 1974 deaths People from the Municipality of Puconci 20th-century Slovenian Roman Catholic priests Salesians of Don Bosco Slovenian Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in China Slovenian expatriates in China Yugoslav Roman Catholic priests