Fran Saleški Finžgar

Fran Saleški Finžgar (February 9, 1871 – June 2, 1962) was perhaps the most popular Slovene folk writer. His full name Fran Saleški refers to the saint he was named after, Francis de Sales. After finishing primary education in the town of Radovljica, he attended secondary school in Ljubljana between 1882 and 1891, continuing his education at the theological college. He was ordained priest in 1894 and worked in various parishes in Upper Carniola and Ljubljana until 1936, when he retired. He died in Ljubljana at the age of 91 and was buried at the Žale cemetery.

Politically, Finžgar was close to the Christian Socialist ideals of the Slovenian Catholic political activist and leader Janez Evangelist Krek. He was an admirer and friend of the prominent Social Democratic author Ivan Cankar, whom he attended at his deathbed in 1918. During World War II, he collaborated with the Communist-led Liberation Front of the Slovenian People, which led him to some conflict with the collaborationist bishop of Ljubljana, Gregorij Rožman.

The Finžgar House in Doslovče was frequented by many intellectuals from the area, particularly by his best friend Izidor Cankar, an influential art historian. The ethnologist Janez Bogataj, whose mother was Finžgar's niece, spent his first 15 years in Finžgar's company and arranged his birth house for public in 1971. It was directed by and produced in 1941. The house was presented by Finžgar, whereas Oton Župančič read the poem "O Vrba".