Albertus Soegijapranata (1896–1963) was a Javanese cleric who became the first native Indonesian bishop upon being created as Archbishop of Semarang in 1940. Born to a Muslim family in Surakarta, Dutch East Indies, in 1910 he converted to Catholicism and was ordained in 1931. First serving as a pastor in Yogyakarta, Soegijapranata was consecrated as the vicar apostolic of the newly established Apostolic Vicariate of Semarang in 1940, moving to the city to take the position. During the Japanese occupation, Soegijapranata resisted attempts to seize Church property, including his vicariate's cathedral, and protected the area's Catholics. During the ensuing national revolution (1945–49) he promoted a nationalist cause, moving his seat to Yogyakarta to support the new government and working to promote international recognition of Indonesia's independence. During the post-revolution years he wrote extensively against communism and worked towards a self-determined Indonesian Roman Catholic hierarchy. He was made an archbishop in 1961, dying two years later in the Netherlands. Soegijapranata is now considered a National Hero of Indonesia and in 2011 a biopic on him was released. (Full article...)
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