Modrus Proceedings, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2007.
Original scientific paper
Povijest župe Plaški
Robert Jolić
Abstract
Very fertile and beautifully located Plaški valley containing two rivers with water of exceptional quality went through interesting historical changes. Especially fateful was the advance of Turkish troops and their invasion on the neighbouring area starting form the 15th century. Croatian people also move from Plaški valley to the areas far from Turkish advances and battle fields. After the central part of the area was devastated, unbending town of Modruš and Croatian army suffered a heavy defeat at Krbavsko polje (1493) and Plaški was left practically desolate. The situation remained unchanged during the next hundred years or more. Later on, Austrian army officers colonised Plaški valley, as well as its wider area, with Vlachs, who subsequently became Serbs. Due to a great number of Vlachs Plaški became the seat of the orthodox diocese, that is, eparchy of Gornji Karlovac. The number of Catholics was very small: it did not exceed 150 000. Nevertheless, in 1769 saw the erection of a Catholic chapel and in 1807 a parish was founded. It isworth while assuming that the first Catholic church followed by the establishment of a parish in 1769. It was dedicated to St. Anthony. It soon became too small so a new church of St. Ann was erected in 1836 which has been preserved to the present day. More than 80 years priests from the neighbouring parishes were responsible for the Plaški parish which means that it existed without a resident priest, that is, only formally. The Catholic population almost disappeared after the Second World War and the church of St. Ann was left unusable until 1977 when the fist post–warmass held in it. Subsequently, the holymass was celebrated in Plaški only once a year — on St. Ann’s day. After a military action Oluja (Storm) in 1995, almost the whole Orthodox population moved away from Plaški which was then settled by Catholic people, mostly from the area of Banja Luka (Bosnia). In such a way the parish of Plaški was restored and it now holds about 1000 Catholics. The parish of Plaški was first recorded in documents in 1163 as one of the six parishes which were bestowed upon Peter, the archbishop of Split by King Stephen III. The name appears again in 1185 in the context of the foundation of the Krbava see which separated from the see of Split. In the next several centuries there was no mention of the parish of Plaški, even though it probably existed during that long period. Once again it was mentioned in the 1486 Terrier of Modruš. The document stated it was dedicated to St. Stephen and the town had a church with the same name. Great part of the property in the valley belonged to the widely known monastery of St. Nicholas on Gvozd, in the vicinity of Modruš. The whole area was owned by the princes of the Frankopan family whose fortified town was located north of modern Plaški. The whole property slowly fell into decay in the end of the 15th century which continued all the way through the 16th century. The first organised colonization into the area started in the beginning of the 17th century: in 1609, 33 Orthodox Vlach families moved to Plaški valley. A small number of Catholic families have during those times and up to the present day had problems with the Orthodox majority and especially the Orthodox hierarchy—as it is stated in authentic documents. It is to be hoped that the parish of Plaški will have a safe future and that Croatian Catholics will always be present there.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
78905
URI
Publication date:
1.1.2007.
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