Filologija, No. 67, 2016.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/mnlqgcjj4y
Belostenec and the Enigma of the Lost Collection of Poems about St. Paul of Thebes
Vladimir Horvat
; Filozofski fakultet Družbe Isusove
Ivana Klinčić
; Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje
Abstract
In the mid-18th century, Paulist chronicler Nikola Benger mentioned in a list of books that Ivan Belostenec had published a collection of poems about St. Paul of Thebes in 1665, a book which entere Croatian literary and linguistic history under the title of Bogomila. No trace of this book has ever been found, however there are witness accounts of its existance in two more recent manuscripts: 1. Altum Inventarium et Regesta Terrena — Convictus Novi (1722); 2. Nikola Benger: Catalogus authorum seu scriptorum (1766). The book mentioned in the inventory of the Novi monastery and the book described in Benger’s list have three common characteristics: the titles of both begin with Bogomila, the poem about St. Paul of Thebes in both sources is described as a song with the Kajkavian “slatkopopevka” and Latin “melodia”, and both were written in the Croatian language using northwestern Croatian graphy. On the basis of this information, we have concluded that the two books are one and the same. As the Paulists dealt in liturgical singing, the fruit of their work is the manuscript Paulist Anthology (‘Pavlinski zbornik’), part of which is also the Paulist Songbook (‘Pavlinska pjesmarica’). We expected the lost poem to be included in the Paulist Songbook, however it contains no songs about St. Paul of Thebes. We consider it likely that the Paulists collected songs about St. Paul of Thebes and decided to publish them as an independent book in honour of their patron saint, and that they entrusted the task to the experienced and respected Father Belostenec.
Keywords
Ivan Belostenec; Nikola Benger; Bogomila; Paulists; church songs; 17th century
Hrčak ID:
186137
URI
Publication date:
4.9.2017.
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