István Szelmár

Who was István Szelmár?

István Szelmár, also known in Slovene as Števan Selmar was a Slovene Roman Catholic priest and writer in the Kingdom of Hungary.

His original surname was Szlámár. His father's name was Mihály Szlámár. However, in the historical Wendic March the Slovene names of the population were frequently altered, insofar as they were registered by the Hungarian authorities, which in many times misspelled them.

Szelmár born in Grad, and was consecrated in 20 July 1845, in Szombathely. Between 1845-1846 he served as chaplain in Črenšovci, and between 1856-1860 in Turnišče. In 1860 he became priest in Kančevci, and in the end of 1876 he was retired. He died in Ivanovci.

He wrote books in the Prekmurian dialect of the Slovene language, and was thus an influential representative of the local Slovene literature in the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1873 he translated the Hungarian book by Alajos Róder Bibliai Történetek. The Slovenian translation bears the name Zgodbe Sztaroga i Nóvoga Zákona.