On 4 December 1879, he was born in Ubľa, Zemplín, Austria-Hungary (present-day Slovakia) as the son of a Rev.

Bishop Julius Firczak, seeing potential in the young student, decided to send him to the Latin Rite seminary in Esztergom to study theology.

After being ordained as a priest on 9 January 1905 at Holy Cross Cathedral in Uzhhorod, he continued his studies in Vienna, where in 1906 he graduated as a Doctor of Sacred Theology with high honors.

However, two years later, in 1908, he was released from his duties at the Seminary to become the personal tutor of Count Mauricius Palfy's children.

When the Episcopal see in Prešov became vacant due to the death of Bishop Ján Vályi on 19 November 1911, it was Count Palfy who recommended that Štefan Novák be appointed as his successor.