Robert Peskar, Ph.D.

Šentrupert na Dolenjskem is situated in the middle of the valley of the river Mirna, not far from the regional road between Trebnje and Mokronog. The church is the central element of the village, which was named after the church patron St Rupert.

Written sources first mentioned the church in 1163, but its beginning, primarily the founding of the original parish, belong to the mid-11th century. The estate itself, centred on the near-by castle of Škrljevo (Chrilouua) was given by Hemma von Friesach-Zeltschach in 1044 to an institution of hers, the monastery of Benedictian nuns in Krka (Gurk) in Carinthia. It was then given in 1072 to the Diocese of Krka, which was a subject of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. In 1393, Johann, the patriarch of Aquilea, with the prior permission of the Pope bestowed the rights of patronage over the parish to Hermann II of Celje. After the death of the last Count of Celje Ulrich in 1456, all his estates and rights passed to the house of Habsburg and its head, the Emperor Frederick III. He heeded the request of the clergyman Jacob Ausperger (1474-1499), the archdeacon of Dolenjska (Lower Carniola) and incorporated the parish of Šentrupert into the collegium chapter in Novo mesto (founded 1493), also making Jacob the first provost of Novo mesto.