In the early eighteenth century, two members of the Rastern family served as parish priests in the Žalec area—Ferdinand (1689–1737) in the town of Žalec itself and his younger half-brother Johann Silvester (1702–1765) in nearby Gotovlje. Whereas almost nothing is known about Ferdinand, slightly more information has been preserved about Johann Silvester. After completing his education with the Jesuits in Graz, he received his ordination and served as a parish priest in Gotovlje. He was also awarded the benefice of St. Martin’s Church in Celje, and in 1749 registered as a member of the Fraternity of St. Michael in Mengeš. Shortly after he drew up his last will and testament in early March 1765, the local authorities conducted a probate inventory of his estate on May 15th. His legacy included a considerable debt to a pharmacist and surgeon in Celje.
His tombstone in Gotovlje has been preserved to the present day. It remained built into the external wall of St. George’s Church until 2005, after which it was moved and built into the northern cemetery wall following the restoration of the façade. Although the inscription and the coat of arms are barely discernible and legible, it is still possible to establish that Johann Silvester—like his brother Ferdinand in Žalec—used the noble predicate de Rastern and the family coat of arms, regardless that he, too, was excluded from the patent of nobility, issued for his brother Leopold Zacharia in 1724. The inscription on the tombstone, which can mostly be reconstructed by drawing from earlier transcriptions, reads as follows: SISTE VIATOR / QUA FRUERIS VELOX MUTABIS FUNERE VITAM / ET POST FATA COMES NON NISI VIRTUS ERIT / ERGO CAVE FLUXIS ANIMOS INFIGERE REBUS / ALTERIUS VITAE SIT PIA CURA TIBI / EN ME DE QUO NIL SUPEREST INCOGNITA / MUNDO / HIC MEA SERVATUR CINERIS URNA MEI / LUSTRALI OB NOXAS O SI FORS UROR IN IGNE / DA MIHI QUOD FIERI TU TIBI FORTE VOLES / IOANNES SILVESTER DE RASTERN / PAROCH. LOC. AETATIS LXIII OBIIT / XIII APRIL. ANNO MDCCLXV. ORA PRO EO / IHS.

Sources:
Curk, Jože: Topografsko gradivo. 2, Sakralni spomeniki na območju občine Žalec. Celje: Zavod za spomeniško varstvo, 1967, pp. 25–26.
Marolt, Marijan: Dekanija Celje, 2. del: Cerkvene umetnine izven celjske župnije. Maribor: Zgodovinsko društvo, 1932, pp. 184–185.
Preinfalk, Miha: Plemiške rodbine na Slovenskem, 18. stoletje, 2. del: Od Del-Negrov do Škerpinov. Ljubljana: Viharnik, 2022, pp. ***