Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Sustersic, Rev F S 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 12:43 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

REV. F. S. SUSTERSIC, who was the first and has been the only pastor of St. 
Joseph's Roman Catholic Church of Joliet, came to this city in May, 1891, with 
instructions from the bishop to organize a congregation of his fellow-
countrymen. He at once gathered together those of the Catholic faith, bought a 
lot on Chicago street, and erected a handsome stone edifice, which was 
dedicated in October of the same year. In 1895 he built St. Joseph's school in 
the same block, an institution that now has four rooms, with two hundred 
pupils, to whom instruction is given in English and in the Slovenic language, 
the Sisters of St. Francis being in charge of the work. In 1898 a neat 
parsonage was completed, and during the same year a place on Scott street was 
bought for the Sisters of St. Francis who are in charge of the school. The 
bodies of the dead are laid to rest in a cemetery of five acres at Washington 
Heights, which was bought in 1894 and is known as St. Joseph's cemetery. The 
congregation of the church numbers two hundred families, representing two 
nationalities, Slovenians and Croatians, the first-named largely 
preponderating. Among the societies are the Children of St. Mary, the Ladies' 
Altar Society, and four Slovenian and one Croatian benevolent society. This is 
also the headquarters of the Slovenic Catholic Union of the United States, the 
secretary and treasurer residing here. In the city of Ljubljana, province of 
Krain, Austria, Father Sustersic was born January 21, 1864, a son of Casper 
and Jennie (Pecnik) Sustersic, natives of the same place and members of very 
old families of the province. His father, a farmer, owned the 
estate, "Bobencek," and died there at sixty-three years. Of their six children 
three are living, Father Sustersic being the eldest. When six years of age he 
began to attend school and at twelve he entered the gymnasium, where he 
completed his classical studies. When eighteen he entered the seminary at 
Ljubljana, the capital of Krain, where he studied philosophy and theology for 
four years. In 1886, at twenty-two years of age, he was ordained to the 
priesthood. Owing to the fact that he was under the stipulated age for 
admission to orders, it required a special dispensation from Pope Leo to make 
his ordination valid. He was ordained in St. Nicholas Cathedral at Ljubljana 
(or Laibach, as called in German) by Bishop (now Cardinal) Missia. For two 
years he was assistant pastor in the church at Smlednik and for three years he 
was stationed at Litija, from which place he came to the United States in 
1891. Learning that many of his countrymen were in Joliet and had no priest of 
their mother tongue, and that Archbishop Feehan was desirous of securing a 
Slav priest, he at once secured the permission of his bishop to come to this 
city, and has since accomplished a gratifying work in bringing together and 
organizing a church of his own people. In all of his labors he has the hearty 
co-operation of his parishioners, who place the utmost confidence in his 
judgment and have learned to esteem him very highly as pastor and priest. 

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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