The Hermagoras Society ( sl, Družba sv. Mohorja or ) is

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

's oldest

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and has branches in

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

(

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

), Celje (

), and

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gori ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

). Named after

Catholic Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

Hermagoras of Aquileia Saint Hermagoras of Aquileia (also spelled Hermenagoras, Hermogenes, Ermacoras) ( it, Sant'Ermagora, fur, Sant Macôr or Sant Ramacul, sl, sveti Mohor; fl. 3rd century – c. 305) is considered the first bishop of Aquileia, northern Italy. Chri ...

it originated on July 27, 1851 at the behest of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Anton Martin Slomšek Blessed Anton Martin Slomšek (26 November 1800 – 24 September 1862) was a Slovene Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Lavant from 1846 until his death. He served also as an author and poet as well as a staunch advocate of the n ...

for the purpose of instructing

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their na ...

in reading and writing. Authorities formally recognized the organization in 1853 and in 1871 association opened its new building and publishing house. By 1918 the society had over 90,000 members and had published more than 16.3 million books. Following the results of the 1920 Carinthian plebiscite the seat was transferred from Klagenfurt to Celje. In 1940 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

both the Klagenfurt and Celje locations were closed down by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

, who confiscated the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

es and destroyed books. After World War II ended, the printing presses were returned, and the Hermagoras Society resumed operation in 1945 and the printing house reopened in 1954. Since then the Gorizia branch of the Hermagoras Society has published the monthly magazine ''Družina in Dom'' (Family and Home) and the encyclopedia ''Primorski Biografski Leksikon'' (Encyclopedia of Littoral Biography). The branch cooperates with the Klagenfurt location in publishing an annual

almanac An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and othe ...

(Slov. ''Koledar''). The Celje location, meanwhile, was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

after World War II and forced to publish exclusively

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

materials until 1970, when it was reorganized. While its membership has fluctuated from 60,000 members in 1970 to 25,000 in 1990, as of 1991 it remained one of the three largest publishers in Slovenia. In 2001 the Hermagoras Society celebrated its 150th anniversary, and the first

president of Slovenia The president of Slovenia, officially the president of the Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Predsednik Republike Slovenije), is the head of state of the Republic of Slovenia. The position was established on 23 December 1991 when the National Assembly p ...

Milan Kučan Milan Kučan (; born 14 January 1941) is a Slovene politician who served as the first President of Slovenia from 23 December 1991 until 22 December 2002. Before being president of Slovenia, he was the 13th President of the Presidency of SR Slov ...

, gave a speech commemorating the society's publication of 40 million books in Slovene since its founding.

References

External links

The A to Z of Slovenia
by Leopoldina Plut-Pregelj and Carole Rogel, pg. 434 {{Authority control Book publishing companies of Austria Publishing companies of Slovenia Publishing companies established in 1851 Cultural history of Slovenia 1851 establishments in the Austrian Empire Companies established in 1851 Carinthia (state)