Original scientific paper
On Archbishop Lazzari in Ornate Rhetoric
Relja Seferovć
Abstract
The work of Grgur Lazzari, archbishop of Dubrovnik (1777-1792), is elucidated on the basis of standard archival sources but also from the perspective of two Latin orations in his honour: the first delivered by the Dominican friar Arkanđeo Kalić, at the cathedral ceremony celebrating the archbishop’s solemn entry in the City in March 1778, and the second by the diocesan priest Marko Kordić, who delivered a sermon at the archbishop’s funeral ceremony in St Jacob’s church in February 1792. Although in principle both orators followed the same theoretical pattern established over the centuries to be delivered on similar occasions, they managed to emphasise the themes of their own inclination. Thus Kalić places his focus on the Church-state relationship, while Kordić brings to attention his personal relations and the long friendship with the deceased archbishop. They both awarded him special credit for his considerable contribution as a Benedictine friar to the revival of the withering Mljet congregation. Lazzari’s archbishopric coincided with a difficult period of the Republic’s history, marked by poor crop seasons, droughts, epidemics and wars in the neighbouring lands. Economic crisis gave rise to lack of discipline and faintheartedness among the clergy, which fully relied on the support of the state. Lazzari was credited for his numerous achievements, such as the improvement of the Church’s position and his role in the final solution with regard to the organisation of the city parishes. His results were essentially due to an objective assessment of the possibilities, vast experience acquired through the decades’ governance of monastic property and goods, as well as to his conciliatory attitude towards the Republic government. The latter, in turn, not only supported his construction projects on the archbishop’s palace and in the cathedral, but also sided with him in the conflict with Abbot Fortunat Mavro Krivelja, a former Franciscan, whom Lazzari had personally admitted into the Benedictine Order with the purpose of reinforcing the slack discipline. Unable to achieve his overambitious plans to root out the crisis that had befallen the order, Krivelja wrongfully accused Archbishop Lazzari before the pope for being responsible for all the evil. Despite Krivelja’s attempts to justify his actions before the Senate, he was sentenced to banishment from the state and thus remained the sole unpleasant episode in the career of Archbishop Lazzari. However, by his own example Lazzari showed a complete failure of the Ragusan government policy to find an ideal individual instead of launching a thorough reform to solve the long-lasting crisis.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
85355
URI
Publication date:
10.7.2012.
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