Tržič native Anton Gross: a Benedictine monk in America

Abstract

Following the example and in some cases on the personal incentive of the missionary Frederick I. Baraga a group of Slovenian seminarians and priests left for the United States of America in the second half of the 19th century. They were working afterwards as missionaries or as pastors in the Slovenian communities. Some of them joined the Benedictine communities and became missionaries among the Indian tribes. Among these was Anton Gross, coming from Tržič, who after many years of pastoral activity in Slovenia decided to go to the States where he became a Bene­dictine monk, a missionary and prior of the Benedictine Abbey St. John‘s, Collegeville, Minnesota. Fr. Severin Gross is known as a ‚pioneer of Minnesota‘.