Athanasius Lovrencic Obituary

Lovrencic O.F.M., Fr. Athanasius Was born on October 3, 1922 in Sv. Trojica in Slovenske gorice, Slovenia. His father was a farmer and his mother a housewife. Fr. Athanasius was baptized on October 5, 1922. He entered the Franciscan Novitiate at the Franciscan monastery in Kamnik on September 1, 1939. His co-Novice there was Fr. Vendelin Spendov. Fr. Athanasius Lovrencic made his final vows on August 12, 1946. During the Second World War, he joined the Slovene Home Guard (medical unit) and thus had to flee his native Slovenia after the war ended. He studied philosophy and theology in Schwaz, Austria, and later in Bolzano, Italy. He was ordained a priest on December 5, 1948 in Trento, Italy. Fr. Athanasius left Europe as a refugee. He traveled from Naples by ship (USAT General A. W. Greely) with a group of fellow Slovenian Franciscans. On December 1949, he arrived at the Franciscan monastery in Lemont. Fr. Athanasius Lovrencic did not stay in Lemont but was sent to serve at St. Stephen's where he was an assistant chaplain from 1951 to 1959, he served in the St. Therese Parish in Johnstown and from 1960 to 1963 in the St. John Vianney Parish in Detroit. After 1963, he was named a Guardian of the Franciscan monastery in Lemont. From 1977 to 1983 he was a Custos of the Franciscan Custody in Lemont. On May 1, 1983, he was named a chaplain at the St. Joseph's Parish in Joliet and served there from 1986 on as a pastor. He served there until his retirement in 1995. After that, he helped in the Lemont monastery and celebrated masses in the nearby parishes. He died on April 3, 2017. Lying in state Thursday, April 6, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. until time of Funeral Mass at 11:00 a.m. at the Chapel of St. Mary's Friary, 14246 Main St., Lemont, IL 60439. Interment, St. Mary Seminary Cemetery.