Ján Nepomuk Gotčár (1st June 1823, Makov – 19th August 1883, Bratislava-Rača) was a distinguished Slovak Catholic priest, an abbot, teacher, national revivalist, founding member of Slovak Matica (SM), Saint Adalbert Association and the Catholic grammar school in Kláštor pod Znievom. He was born in the Kysuce region into the family of the manor gamekeeper, Ján Gotčár, and Anna Bauerová. In May 1825, he lost his father and his widowed mother moved, together with her children, to Žilina. From 1834 to 1838, the young Ján studied at the lower grammar school in Žilina. He then moved on to Cieszyn, later to Kecskemét and finished his grammar school studies in Oradea From 1842 onwards, he studied philosophy at the Trnava University and later he went on to study theology in Banská Bystrica. After he completed his theological studies, he was appointed as a professor by Bishop Jozef Rudňanský of Banská Bystrica and he worked at the Royal Catholic Grammar School in Banská Bystrica, where he taught geography, history and languages (Slovak, Latin and Hungarian).
The revolutionary events of 1848 and 1849 found him in Banská Bystrica. He was active during the so-called winter expedition. At the beginning of February 1849, he became a deputy notary in Banská Bystrica. Until November 1849 he worked as a chief notary for Zólyom County. In 1856, at the grammar school in Banská Bystrica, he initiated the creation of an association to provide support to poor students. Also in 1856 he was appointed as the director of the grammar school in Uzhhorod, and two years later became an education administrator and the chief school inspector in Oradea. In 1860, he was appointed to be the titular abbot of Koblan and also served as a consistorial adviser to the bishop of Banská Bystrica. He was a member of a memorandum delegation to Vienna, where he accompanied Bishop Moyzes. He was a member of the preparatory committee for Slovak Matica and became a founding member. He also held the position of chairman of the ethnographic-geographical section. In 1867, he was pensioned off. He spent his retirement in Žilina and partly in Pest. He applied his skills to the necessary preparations for the establishment of a Catholic grammar school in Kláštor pod Znievom and in the activities of Slovak Matica. He also procured financial resources for the grammar school from sources abroad. In 1870, he was one of the founding members of the Saint Adalbert Association and acted as a member of the committee. He spent the final years of his life in Rača.
The author of the stamp is the painter Peter Augustovič. The portrait was based on a lithograph by Josef Přecechtěl, “Výtečníci slovenskí”, dating from 1863. The Catholic grammar school in Kláštor pod Znievom is shown on the FDC. There is a manuscript from his correspondence in the background and his handwritten signature in the postmark.
Drahomír Velička
