Welcome our new House Manager, Slavka!

One of our residents at Casa San Salvador, Slavka Brigantova, will be starting as our new house manager on November 1. Read on to learn more about her fascinating story.

A self-described “simple girl from Slovakia,” Slavka Brigantova’s modesty hides a very interesting history that has taken her across the world and seen her working in various fields, most recently as the new house manager at Franciscan Mission Service’s “Casa San Salvador.”

Slavka graduated in 2007 from Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Having always been deeply attracted to the life and charism of St. John Bosco, founder of the Salesian Order, she then went to work as the director for a Slovakian organization of Salesian youth called Domka. Later she also worked with Savio, a Salesian organization similar to FMS that supports children and youth in developing countries.

In August of this year, Slavka came to the United States for the first time to begin her Master’s program in Theology of Marriage and Family at the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C. She has been living at Casa San Salvador and has found great joy in the experience of living in community.

“I like hospitality, to welcome guests, to share this ‘everyday-ness,’” she says. Asked about the spiritual aspect of serving as house manager, she responds, “I want to be who I am, ‘doing by living.’”

In her free time, Slavka enjoys running and reading. She is especially fond of the works of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (aka Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) that she has read in her classes, including his biography of Jesus of Nazareth. She also likes to meet people; she has it as her life motto to “everyday meet a new person.”

In her three months at Casa San Salvador, Slavka has proven herself to be both a hard worker and a wonderfully open, supportive housemate and we are thrilled to have her as our new house manager!

Fun Fact: “If I could, I would eat only green foods—spinach, lettuce, all vegetables. I’m like a rabbit!”

Favorite Saint: “Apart from Don Bosco, St. Joseph. For so many reasons – he’s close to Jesus and Mary, he was a very simple man, faithful, taking care of the Holy Family. There is no word of his in Scripture, he’s silent but very much present. This is what I really like, what I’ve received as my mission of life.”