Anton Puntigam was born on May 15, 1859, in Salzach (Austria). He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1879. He was ordained a priest in 1893. He was one of the first Austrian Jesuits who, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Vrhbosna Josip Stadler, came to the newly opened seminary and gymnasium in Travnik and began working on the education of youth. He stayed in Travnik during two periods, from 1886 to 1890 and from 1895 to 1908. He was a professor and educator to the Venerable Servant of God Petar Barbarić, visited him daily during his illness, and recorded details from his life. He shaped his notes into Petar’s biography, and the fame of his holiness spread throughout Central Europe.
Father Puntigam’s contribution is especially significant as the initiator and organiser of the consecration of about 160,000 Croatian youth to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1900. At his urging, the then seminarian Petar Perica (he was killed by partisans in 1944 on the island of Daksa near Dubrovnik) composed the devotional songs “Do nebesa nek se ori” and “Zdravo Djevo”.
Father Puntigam went to Vienna in 1908, only to return a year later to the seminary in Sarajevo, where he remained until 1918. He left at the request of his superiors due to his personal safety and the safety of the local Jesuit community. He lived and worked in Bosnia with great love and dedication for 27 years. He passed away in Vienna on September 4, 1926.
(Željka Šaravanja)
