Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/102

Prof. W. A. Oldfather in the Vienna collection called “Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum”.

“Rev. Ferdinand Príkazký took part, we may say, in every undertaking which has being carried on for the welfare of the Catholic Slovaks in America,” writes the Slovak “Jednota” on Nov. 16, 1927 in reporting Father Prikazký’s death.

He was born on Oct. 19, 1867 in Skalica, Nitra Župa, Czechoslovakia and came to this country in 1904. In the same year he was ordained priest and made pastor of St. Gabriel’s Church in Pittsburg. Here he labored for the next twenty-three years, being always a good Father to his parishioners. Through his effort and ability, he succeeded in building a beautiful church, rectory, and a parochial school now attended by 530 pupils. He was also a real leader of his flock, who ministered to their spiritual wants and led them by his humble and exemplary life.

He was a true American, who, however, did not forget the land of his birth, believing that the Slovak racial group should not forget its mother tongue. For this reason he founded within his parish the first Slovak Franciscan convent in America, and invited the Slovak Franciscan Sisters of Ružomberok, Slovakia, to his parish. Today the above mentioned Sisters have 70 members and conduct schools in various parishes in Pennsylvania. Only recently Father Príkazký, with the aid of his parishioners, began the construction of a $500,000 convent for these Sisters.

Of his many activities for the welfare of the Slovaks in America, we shall mention the following. He was president of the Slovak Priests’ Alliance, chairman of the first Slovak Day in Pittsburg, and one of the leaders in every important Slovak movement.

His congenial disposition won him many friends, and his exemplary and energetic life inspired all who had the opportunity to meet him. He has worked hard, but as many another leader has left his work unfinished. It is up to the American youth of Slovak ancestry to continue in his footsteps and earry on where he had left off. His life of sixty years spent in work is the beacon light which he bequeaths to his successors.

In the last issue of the “Student Life” we have unwittingly sinned by omission and commission in writing the [[../../Number 1/Czechoslovak Men of Note#26|biography of Dr. G. Dvorak-Theobold]], and hence we make the following corrections. She is clinical instructor at Rush Medical College, Pathologist at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Ophthalmologist at the Mary Thompson Women’s and Children’s Hospital.