Dominik Hrušovský (1 June 1926 – 27 July 2016) was a prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who served outside his homeland during its years of Communist control, largely devoted to the pastoral care of Catholic Slovaks abroad. Late in his career he returned to Slovakia. He was also Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus.

Biography

He was born in Veľká Maňa, Slovakia, on 1 June 1926. He began his theological studies in Bratislava and then from 1946 in Rome at the

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University (; ), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. The university ...

. Because of the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, he did not return home. He was ordained on 23 December 1950 and worked as a pastor in the Diocese of Belluno. From 1955 to 1962 he taught philosophy and theology at the regional seminar in Viterbo. From 1962 to 1966 he was a member of the Slovak Catholic Mission in Paris. He then worked in the Slovak Institute of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome and became its head in 1975. On 18 December 1982,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him titular bishop of Tubia and assigned to him the pastoral care of Slovak Catholics in foreign lands. He was ordained a bishop on 6 January 1983, continuing to head the Institute of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. His mandate grew with the fall of communism, which allowed him to reach Slovak communities in the former Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe. On 24 September 1992, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of

Archdiocese of Trnava The Archdiocese of Trnava (, ) is a Latin Catholic archdiocese in western Slovakia including bigger part of the Trnava, and parts of Nitra and Trenčín regions. It has its seat in Trnava. Although it is an archdiocese, it is not a metropolita ...

and on 17 December was made vicar of that archdiocese for Bratislava. Following the establishment of

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

as an independent nation, the first meeting of the Bishops Conference of Slovakia elected Hrušovský Secretary General and Chair of the Commission on Slovaks Abroad on 4 April 1993. On 30 January 1995, he was named to a five-year term as a member of the

Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People () was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia. The council, established by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1988, was dedicated to the spiritual welfare of migrant and it ...

. On 13 April 1996,

elevated him to titular archbishop of Tubia and named him Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus. He retired when his successor in Belarus was appointed on 28 July 2001. Hrušovský died on 27 July 2016 in

Nitra Nitra (; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra (river), Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of ...

, where he spent the last years of his life in retirement.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy: Archbishop Dominik Hrušovský
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hrusovsky, Dominik 1926 births 2016 deaths Slovak Roman Catholic archbishops Apostolic nuncios to Belarus Roman Catholic bishops in Czechoslovakia People from Nové Zámky District 20th-century Roman Catholic titular archbishops