The 1840s saw the emergence of a striking 10,000 line poem by Jernej Levi~nik, The Roman Catholic Church (Katoliška cerkev), which has remained in manuscript form. Almost eight decades ago it was analysed in detail by Slovene literary historian France Koblar, who, however, left the issue of Levičnik's doctoral studies in Graz unresolved. The paper begins by outlining the poet's doctoral studies in the light of recently discovered documents from the Graz University archives. Speculations on the extent to which his studies may have broadened his literary horizon are accompanied by the consideration of other epic poems which exerted an influence on The Roman Catholic Church.
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