Born in Černová (today part of the city of Ružomberok) in the Liptov County Slovakia, which was under the rule of Austro-Hungarian kingdom), Hlinka graduated with a degree in theology from Spišská Kapitula and was ordained priest in 1889.

[citation needed] He tried to improve the social status of his parishioners, fought against alcoholism and organized educational lectures and theatre performances.

This was met with protests and resistance from the local population and led to the Černová massacre, which brought international attention to the situation of the Slovak minority in the Kingdom of Hungary.

His friends worked on the rehabilitation of his public image and Hlinka, who complained of his suspension to the Holy See, finally won the case against the bishop.

On the confidential meeting of the Slovak National Party on 24 May 1918, he took a clear position and ended a prolonged discussion of undecided participants ("Thousand years old marriage with the Hungarians didn't work out.

In the early period of Czechoslovakia, when a part of the Church hierarchy still preferred the Kingdom of Hungary, he intensively lobbied for the new state.

This poorly timed and organized journey could have seriously harmed the interests of Czechoslovakia at the conference and damaged the image of Slovak autonomists.

[3] This was especially the case of Vojtech Tuka who several times undermined the interests of the party, but preserved Hlinka's trust regardless of the resistance of the HSLS.

Hlinka sympathized with authoritarian regimes like Salazar's Portugal or Dollfuss' Austria, both states in which Catholic clericalism played a central role.

During the final years of his life, his party was internally divided into two wings – the conservatives led by Catholic priest Jozef Tiso and the radicals, mostly young, dissatisfied members.

It was only after the Munich Agreement, when Czechoslovakia was absorbed into the German sphere of influence, the loss of the Czech borderland, and under the threat of territorial demands of Hungary, that the HSLS exploited the weakness of the state and declared autonomy on 6 October 1938, less than two months after Hlinka's death.

[7] Today, Andrej Hlinka is mostly commemorated in his native Černová[citation needed], where his house can be found and remains open to the public.