Michal Miloslav Hodža was one of the leading personalities of Slovak cultural and political life in the 1830’s – 1860’s. He was born on 22nd September 1811 in the village of Rakša in central Slovakia. He studied at the Evangelical Seminary in Prešov and later in Bratislava. In 1837 he finished his studies of theology in Vienna and was ordained a Lutheran priest. He spent most of his life as a pastor in Liptovský Mikuláš. During his studies in Bratislava in the 1830’s , he became close with Ľudovít Štúr, the leading person of the rising generation of Slovak national activists...