Original scientific paper

Ivan Damiš ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Friar Kajo Agjić was born at Pleternica on January 19, 1805. His parents were Luka and Bara. At his christening he was given the name Andrew.
He attended primary school at Pleternica and grammar school at Požega. In 1822 he entered the Franciscan Order and received the religious name Friar Kajo.
He listened to lectures in philosophy in the Franciscan friary in Našice and lectures in theology in Baja - today in Hungary. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1828 he obtained a licenciate in philosophy and later in theology. The life and work of Friar Kajo Agjić was filled with various duties in the Franciscan Order and other activities in the field of Croatian education and culture.
As provincial of the Province of St. John of Capistrano from 1857 to 1860 and 1869 to 1872, he prepared two handbooks on asceticism: »P. Aemiliani Nieberle, Octava seraphica pro faciendis quovis anno in ordine S. Francisci spiritualibus exercitiis adornata, nunc autem novitus recursa atque altero piarum meditationum curxu aucta.« Budae, 1871, 248 pages, and »Manuele Franciscanum in usum alumnorum Ord. S. Francisci Provinciae Capistranae ex dispositione P. Caji Agjić, ministry provincialis editum«, Budae, 1872.
Friar Kajo was visitor twice. In 1866 he visited his province and in 1869 the Province of St. Ladislaus. He was guardian for 15 years -from 1839-1845 - in Vukovar; -1848-1851,1852-1854, 1876-1878 and 1880-1881 in Požega.
For many years he was lecturer of moral and pastoral theology in the educational institutions of his Province, in Mohača and Vukovar. As professor he set out to present his listeners with a book on moral theology in the Croatian language so he translated from German »Epitomae Theologiae moralis publicis praelectionibus accomadata«, Tomus I, p. XII + 332; Tomus II, p. XII + 436, Oeniponti, 1832 by the author Ambrose Stapf. The title that Agjić gave to his translation was: »Sastav Bogoslovja Delorednog, koja :a obću korist napisa Kajo Agjić, Reda s. Franje, deržave Kapistranske misnik«; Book I, in Budim, s slovi Kr. Magj. sveučilišta, 1847, XVI + 344pages; Book II, X+ 442pages. These two volumes, apart from their initial intention which was that they should serve as manuals for students of theology, also considerably contributed to the expansion of Croatian theological literature of the period.
Becoming aware of the absence of a more modern Croatian lectionary, while he was guardian and director of the grammar school at Požega, Friar Kajo prepared and edited: »Štijenja i Evangjelja za sve nedilje i svetkovine priko godine, koja na bistrie razumlje i čistije stijenje izvede Kajo Agjić, Reda S. Franje misnik, manastira požeškog gvardijan, i gymnasie požeske upravitelj. S osobitim pretresom i dopuštenjem pričastog Ordinariata Zagrebačkog«, Zagreb 1851, 312 pages. Written in the »ikavica« dialect the lectionary introduced the use of the letters č, š, ž, for the first time in the history of Croatian lectionaries. Josip Jakošić, a Franciscan friar, mentioned this lectionary in his writing: »Scriptores Interamniae« noting that Agjić elaborated it following the rules of grammar and syntax of the so-called »ilirski Pavićev Evanđelistar«.
In 1865 Agjić prepared a new edition of his lectionary under the title: »Štijenja poslanicah i evangjeljah za sve nedjelje i svetkovine preko godine, koje za porabu crkvenu i domaću pobožnost na novopriredi i izdade Kajo Agjić, Reda sv. Franje deržave Kapistransko-bulgarske-vlaške izsluženi pravincijal. U Požegi, Tiskarom, Miroslava Kraljevića 1865, 288 pages. He stated that he prepared this edition »only to promote a more correct use of the language.« He introduced the imperfect and aorist tenses. This edition of the lectionary ranks side by side with lectionaries written in contemporary Croatian. So in the second edition of the lectionary Agjić prefers to use the new Croatian orthography which shows that he accepted the Croatian ideas of revival. Agjić's participation in the Croatian national revival is particularly obvious in his correspondence with Lj. Gaj, A. T. Brlić and other prominent figures.
Agjić's concern of the nation in the broadest sense of the word is expressed in his articles titled: »Prijatelj puka« and »Dobar župnik« published in 1863 in the periodical »Slavonac«.
He also published instructive folk plays: »Dvie ćudoredne predstave jedna o Sv. Tereziji a druga o razpuštenoj kćeri, velikoj posliepokornici Sv. Margariti Kortonskoj.« Arranged by Kajo Agjić, in Požega, 10862, 183 pages. These were actually reprinted and rearranged dramas of Friar Ivan Velikanović written in 1780 and 1803.
Agjić's research in Church history extended from 1852, the year when he ceased to be director of the grammar school at Požega and 1865 just before he assumed a series of administrative duties in his Order. Between 1850 and 1867 he also worked with »The Society for Yugoslav history and antiquity.« Agjić's historical work is primarily due to his love for Croatian antiquities, Church antiquities in particular, and his desire to preserve and relvaluate them. His friendly association with historians from the »Society« - Franjo Rački, Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski and others — served as an impetus to his historical research.
Having enriched Croatian theological literature with his handbook on systematic moral theology, he likewise wished to contribute to the history of the Catholic Church with an overall and systematic account of its history. His incomplete and unedited »Cerkvena poviest« is in fact a translation of »Institutiones historiae ecclesiasticae...« written by the Hungarian historian Miklos Cherrier. Agjić got to page 594 of his unfinished »Cerkvena poviest« where he writes about the followers of the heretic John Hus. At the bottom of the page he states: »N.B. I have to stop writing »Cerkvena poviest« because of my weak eyes. In Požega, 26 June 1856, Kajo Agjić. «It is unfortunate that Agjić did not succeed in finishing this history of the Church. Had he managed to do so, it would have been the first complete manual of the history of the Church in Croatian. Since 1856 when Agjic stopped writing his history of the Church, 8 whole manuals of Church history have been written. Another manual written by Dr Friar Julijan Jelenić is also incomplete and the editions of »Velika povijest Crkve« by Hubert Jedin
published by »Kršćanska sadašnjost« in Zagreb are still being edited. Hardly any of the eight whole manuals on Church history exceed in volume Agjić's »Cerkvena poviest«.
Unable to bring this extensive work to an end, Agjić manifested his love for antiquities in other ways. For many years he took care of the library, archives and collections in the Franciscan friary in Požega. He personally funded the carving of commemorative tablets: one on the ruins of the Franciscan friary at Poljanska; tablets in honour of two bishops in the church in Velika and above the portal of the Franciscan church in Požega.
In 1865 he embarked on the task of creating the first Croatian monastic historiography. What Donat Fabijančić had done for the religious houses in southern Croatia, Agjić intended to do for the whole of Croatia. His weak eyesight prevented him from carrying out research work on his own and he overcame this drawback by seeking the cooperation of others. Nevertheless, Agjić managed to produce only a short history of the Franciscan friary in Požega under the title »Mila u Isukerstu bratjo redovnici, kaluđeri i duhovne sestre!« to serve as a model by which all superiors could describe the history of their religious houses. Only a few short handwritten histories were made, among which we draw attention to the one written by the Croatian musician, Franciscan and guardian of the friary in Virovitica, Father Fortunat Pintarić. Father Pintarić eulogizes Agjić's conception of a Croatian monastic historiography and writes him in an accompanying letter: »...may later generations read, that we did not eat our bread in vain but were useful to everyone«.
We shall also mention that Friar Kajo, after his term as director of the grammar school at Požega had come to an end, published a leaflet: »a short history of the grammar school and the line of succession of its directors under the title »Uspomena Gimnazije Požeške«.
Friar Kajo Agjić died on December 1, 1892 at the age of 88. He lies buried in the Franciscan tomb in the cemetery of St. Elijah, Požega, in a stone coffin which he had made while he was still alive. Engraved on the coffin is the inscription: »I now lie here in the dust where I will rot but I know that my Saviour lives and that I will rise again on the last day. Abode of eternal rest which in 1866 Kajo Agjić from Pleternica, former provincial of the Province of 'S. Joannis a Capistrano cum Bulgaro- Valachica canonicae unitae' of the Order of St. Francis.«

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

35125

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/35125

Publication date:

25.4.1995.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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