Portal:Indonesia/Selected biography/4

Albertus Soegijapranata (1896–1963) was the Apostolic Vicar of Semarang, and later its archbishop. He was also the first native Indonesian bishop and known for his pro-nationalistic stance, often expressed as "100% Catholic, 100% Indonesian". He was born in Surakarta, Dutch East Indies and moved to Yogyakarta when still young. Around 1909 he joined Xaverius College in Muntilan, where he became interested in Catholicism. He was in 1910. He decided to be a priest and was ordained in 1931. In 1934 he was given his own parish in Bintaran. In 1940 Soegijapranata was consecrated as the vicar apostolic of the newly established Apostolic Vicariate of Semarang. As apostolic vicar, Soegijapranata promoted nationalism and worked to get international recognition for the newly independent Indonesia. He was elevated to archbishop in 1961 and, after his death, made a national hero. (Read more...)