Inese Runce
This article is about the life of priest, publicist, and very well-known Latvian/Latgalian politician of pre-World War I and interwar Latvia – Francis Trasuns. He was born in Sakstagals parish of the former “Polish Livonia”, and was educated as a Roman Catholic priest in St. Petersburg. At the beginning of 20th century Francis Trasuns became one of the leading politicians, representing his region in the Russian Duma and one of the most visible Catholic leaders and priests who aroused suspicion and was watched carefully by the imperial governmental institutions. Francis Trasuns was the main initiator and leader of Latgale’s unification process in 1917. At the same time, he was one of the founders of Latgalian language press after the ban on Latin shrift was abolished in 1904 in the former territories of the Poland and Lithuania in 1904, including Latgale.
In 20s of the 20th century, Francis Trasuns participated more in political than in spiritual or religious activities. However, during the final stages of his life, which coincides with the formation of the Latvian state and the first years of its independence, it is clear, that he was more a priest who cares about believers in God and is only using political instruments to deal with a wide spectrum of issues: Latgalian language, education and cultural issues, Vatican and Latvian concordat etc.
His constant demand for social justice in the Latvian political system, strongly in tune with the social teachings and principles of the Catholic Church, – was central to his political projects. Like another Latvian politician Paul Schiemann, Trasuns used political means to promote equality and moral values of Western civilization and tried to advocate European solidarity, but never influenced the majority of European politicians.
