Mihael Bakoš
Evangelical pastor, teacher, writer, and translator Mihael Bakoš was born in 1742, in Šalovci, to father Franc Bakoš and mother Eva, née Abraham. He received his early education in Domanjševci, where he strengthened his knowledge of the Hungarian language.
He continued his studies in Nemescsó, where he came to the attention of Štefan Küzmič, who taught at the local Evangelical school. Under Küzmič’s guidance, Bakoš completed what was known as the Latin school, and then went on to study at the Evangelical Lyceum in Sopron. After completing his studies at the Evangelical Lyceum in Bratislava, he worked for four years as a tutor at the boarding school of the Jeszenák lyceum. He later returned to Nemescsó and remained there until the end of 1779. His path then led him to Surd, where he succeeded Küzmič as the third Slovene preacher. For a period, he handed over his position to the Evangelical pastor Mihály Horváth and served for a year in Križevci, but due to certain (unknown) reasons, he returned to Surd again. Until his death in 1803, he followed in the footsteps of Štefan Küzmič, working among the dwindling Slovene population and supporting Slovene communities elsewhere.
Among his works, the hymnal Nouvi Graduval (1789) stands out, as it represents the cornerstone of Bakoš’s efforts to strengthen and refine church singing in the Evangelical churches of Prekmurje. Additionally, through this hymnal, Bakoš preserved an important part of the old church song tradition. Around 1791, he wrote the Prekmurje hymnal Krszcsánszke peszmene knige, the second edition of which was edited by Mihael Barla in 1823, and the third by János Kardos in 1848. Bakoš also compiled the primer Szlovenszki Abecedár, which included prayers, four songs, and a Latin–Slovene glossary, thereby contributing to the standardisation of the Prekmurje Slovene dialect.
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