Journal Luč on topics about leisure and social life of the Catholic youth at the beginning of the 20th century

Stranice lista katoličke mladeži Luč donose bogate podatke o dokolici i društvenom životu katoličke mladeži početkom 20. stoljeća. Časopis Luč redovito je pratio društveni život i aktivnosti domaće svjetovne i bogoslovne mladeži u Hrvatskoj, ali i u inozemnim sveučilišnim središtima, gdje su postojale akademske katoličke organizacije. Društveni život svjetovne katoličke mladeži odvijao se u okviru nekoliko organiziranih katoličkih društava kao i po ferijalnim katoličkim društvima, dok su bogoslovi svoje društvene aktivnosti vodili u »Zboru duhovne mladeži«. Promatra se niz aktivnosti mladih i njihovo organiziranje, ali prije svega njihovo usmjerenje na društveno-koristan rad među pukom (držanje tečajeva za opismenjivanje, pučkih predavanja, osnivanje knjižnica, borba protiv alkoholizma i sl.). Osim toga Luč donosi i niz zanimljivih podataka koji pomažu barem djelomično rekonstruirati provođenje slobodnog vremena katoličke mladeži u tom razdoblju.On the basis of the articles published in the journal Luč author aims to reconstruct social life and activities of laic and clerical youth in Croatia in comparison with some other foreign university centres with Catholic academic organizations. Thus, social life of laic Catholic youth was organized through several Catholic associations, among which the most prominent were »Hrvatska« [Croatia] in Vienna and »Domagoj« in Zagreb. At the same time social life of young theologians (clerical youth) was organized by »Zbor duhovne mladeži« [Association of spiritual youth]. As at that time Catholic movement in Croatia was in expansion, this youth organized in above-mentioned organizations gathered under slogan »God – People – social justice« and stood up to defend Christian values. Their main purpose was to join together high-school and university youth that at that time largely accepted liberal ideas. However, except these activities that aimed towards religious life and broadening up their organization (the peak of this process was organization of »Hrvatski katolički đački savez« [Croatian Catholic pupils’ association]), this Catholic youth expressed open interest regarding social justice and socially beneficial work among the lowest social strata. For example, many of them followed courses about social skills – especially under influence of Slovenian Janez Ev. Krek and his ideas about the Christian socialism – and put their efforts into literacy of the lower social strata. Similarly, they organized public lectures and fought against alcoholism. Moreover, they organized work of Društvo sv. Jeronima [Society of St. Jerome] that spread literacy and literature among various social layers. Beside this, journal Luč reveals many information that helps to reconstruct, at least partially, leisure time of the Catholic youth in this period. The analysis of this data revealed that Catholic youth regarding the leisure followed path of joy-time of their mates who were members of other groups, but with the underlined Christian attributes