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Two Bishops from the Franciscan Order
Pijo Mate Pejić
Sažetak
The article deals with the friars Antun Primović (1625–1703) and Vinko Lupi Vuković (around 1641–1709) who were members of the Dubrovnik Franciscan province. Primović was the most famous Franciscan from Dubrovnik of the second half of the XVIIth century. He was born in a rich and renowned Dubrovnik family. He finished his elementary and secondary schooling in the city of his birth. He entered the Franciscan order and completed a philosophical-theological course of study. In 1666 he was elected provincial. After the great earthquake which hit Dubrovnik in 1667, the government of Dubrovnik sent him to European courts to seek aid for those who underwent suffering from the earthquake. At the suggestion of the Dubrovnik government, in 1669 the Pope named Primović as the Trebinje-Mrkanj bishop which office he held for 34 years under constant harrasment from the Turks. He played a positive role in the movement amongst Orthodox monks and priests for the reunification with Rome within the territory of the Trebinje bishopric. He waged a fierce battle with the patriarch of Peć who in 1674 had succeeded with the sultan to issue a ferman under which decree Catholics were subservient to the Orthodox patriarch. During the Wien war (1683–1699) he sternly demanded from the Venice general providotore in Zadar to repeal the ruling concerning the dislocation of people from Herzegovina into the swampy surrounding area nearby Opuzen.
Friar Vinko Lupi Vuković was born in the Dubrovnik hinterland in the Konavle village Radovčić into the poor Vuković family who had resettled there from Duvno. In searching out his Croatian surname, some people called him Vukić and Vučić. In his early youth he came to Dubrovnik where he served some merchant after which he was accepted into the monastery of the Small Friars where he received his education and became a Franciscan in the Dubrovnik province of St. Francis. At that time, the Dubrovnik Franciscans sent their most talented young friars, with the support of the Dubrovnik administration, to the more renowned Franciscan places of learning in Italy so that friar Vinko was fortunate enough to go to Italy and in the Franciscan gymnasiums learn humanistic subjects initially and then to study theology. He received excellent marks in all of his subjects. During his studies his teachers and superiors recognized his intellectual abilities, his work habits, his exemplary human and Franciscan way of life and his ability to transport to others his acquired knowledge. After he entered the priesthood he remained in Italy. He was named a professor. He did his teaching service in Franciscan monasteries and spent the longest period of time in Mantova. He was well acquainted with all theological subjects, especially exegesis, the Holy Writ and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. For years he taught the young Franciscans in the sacred doctrines. As a sign of recognition for his professional and conscientious teaching service, the supreme authority of the Order honored him with the highest Franciscan academic title of the jubilary lector of holy theology. He was an excellent preacher, possessing a general but primarily a theological education and a gift of speech. He addressed his flock in Croatian and in Italian. The duke of Mantova, Ferdinand Charles, named him as the court theologian and preacher which gave him the opportunity to get to know numerous renowned and famous persons. Although a foreigner, he was elected to the position of the superior of the well-known and large monastery in Mantova. During his stay in Italy, a catastrophic earthquake hit Dubrovnik in 1667 in which the church of the Small Friars and its library with 7.500 manuscripts with the archive full of old documents burned down. During the founding of the new library, he gifted a collection of books worth more then 500 Venetian ducats. In 1702 he was elected and in 1703 he was confirmed by Pope Clement XI as the bishop of Ston. Before his departure for Rome, the Dubrovnik authorities gave him instructions to carry out some important missions in their name at authorized papal offices. Upon returning from Rome, he took over the running of the poor and small Ston bishopric. He knew what were his duties as a bishop but also the circumstances in which he will work. He partially alleviated the shortage of priests, by relinquishing the Church of St. Mary of Loreto to the Dubrovnik Franciscans and by issuing a permit that they can erect a monastery next to the church. He defended the fleeing priest don Marko Andrijašević who after friar Vinko’s death was named the archbishop of Sofia. All that he achieved during his lifetime was the fruit of his talent, diligence, exemplary human and priestly life. Throughout his life he was a modest man. He remained that kind of person up to his death so that his grave does not even bear his name.
Ključne riječi
friar Antun Primović; friar Vinko Lupi Vuković; bishops; Dubrovnik; Ston; Trebinje
Hrčak ID:
8711
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.11.2005.
Posjeta: 3.779 *