Anton Füster

Anton Füster, also spelled Fister (5 January 1808 – 12 March 1881), was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest, theologian, pedagogue, radical political activist, and author of Slovene origin. He played a significant role in the Viennese March Revolution of 1848. Born in Radovljica, Carniola, he pursued his studies in Ljubljana, where he was ordained a priest in 1832. During his time in Ljubljana, he was part of an intellectual circle that included Matija Čop and became a friend of the poet France Prešeren. In 1835, Füster moved to Trieste to serve as a preacher in the German language. By 1839, he relocated to Gorizia, taking on a role as a professor of religion and pedagogy at the State Gymnasium. In Gorizia, he formed a close friendship with Valentin Stanič, a Slovene priest and activist, and actively participated in Stanič's Association against the Torture of Animals, an early animal rights movement in Central Europe. Füster was also instrumental in establishing a chair for the Slovene language at the seminary of the Archdiocese of Gorizia. In 1847, he was appointed professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna, where he became known for advocating democratic ideals among students. On March 12, 1848, Füster delivered a sermon that inspired students to revolt the following day. This event marked one of the first major revolts in German lands during the 1848 revolutions. Following the outbreak of the revolution, Füster became a committed revolutionary, serving as a chaplain to the insurgent Academic Guard and fighting alongside students on the barricades. Initially, he supported the Slovene national movement and co-signed a manifesto for a United Slovenia in April 1848. However, he later distanced himself from romantic nationalist positions. In July 1848, he was elected to the Kremsier Parliament. After the parliament was dissolved by Austrian imperial authorities in March 1849, Füster emigrated, first to England and then to the United States, eventually settling in Philadelphia. He returned to Austria in 1876, residing first in Graz and then Vienna, where he published his memoirs of the revolutionary period. Anton Füster died in Vienna and was granted an honorary grave at the Wiener Zentralfriedhof.