(1687 - 1781)
Venceslav Lucenperger was born in Podgora near Gorica. In 1715 he visited Trenta for the first time. When he came to the valley, the legend has it, he saw an elderly woman and then a young girl both on their way to church. So he offered to say the mass on that day. After the mass, he packed his things and headed back for Bovec. Then the people of Trenta rushed after him, begging him to stay in the village. He did return, and stayed in Trenta for 66 years until his death in 1781. After the mine in Trenta had been closed, he took up sheep breeding, like many of his neighbours. People say that Venceslav Lucenperger is buried in the church in Trenta where a memorial plaque bearing his name can be seen. After Lucenperger had died, the people of Trenta had to do without a priest for 77 years.
The people, however, have not forgotten their priest. The memory of »the late Trentar«, (Trentar: an inhabitant of Trenta) continues to live in tales and legends passed on from generation to generation. Venceslav Lucenperger is said to have gone to the Krajcarica (krajcar: kreutzer, an Austrian copper coin) often to drink from the stream, swearing that a glass of that water was worth a »krajcar«.
Besides, he kept saying that a time would come when »only one cow will graze from Predel to Gorica«. Certain of the bad times ahead, he would say »I wouldn't even want the strings of my shoes to be left in this world at that time. It will be when a farmer sues a farmer and iron snakes slither along the valley.« So now, whenever times are bad for Trenta, people still say that the predictions of the late Trenta priest have come true.
Slovenščina