 He was born in Murska Sobota in the region Prekmurje, in what was the Vas county of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Austrian Empire.His parents were József Zsemlits, shoemaker and Anna Karlovics.Between 1864 and 1868 he served as chaplain in Beltinci (), and later as parish priest in Alsószölnök () and in Gornja Lendava (in Hungarian "Felsőlendva", now Grad, Slovenia) from 1887 to his death in 1891.