Juraj Tranovský was sometimes called the father of Slovak hymnody and issued several collections of hymns, the first being the Latin "Odarum Sacrarum sive Hymnorum Libri III" in 1629, but his most important and most famous word was "Cithara Sanctorum" (Lyre of the Saints), written in Czech, which appeared in 1636 in Levoča. This latter volume has formed the basis of Czech and Slovak Lutheran hymnody to the present day. Against the background of the scarcity of Slovak literature, Tranovský's Slovak hymns formed a source for raising national consciousness.