Original scientific paper
MILLENIUM OF THE CROATIAN GLAGOLITISM
MILE BOGOVIĆ
Abstract
In the first part, the author gives a brief presentation of dioceses, whose districts were for a long time under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Senj. Those dioceses were: Senj, Krbava, Modruš and Otočac. The Bishop of Senj was for the first time mentioned in the letter of pope Innocent the First (402 - 417) and after that again only in 1169. The diocese of Krbava was founded in 1185. Its administrative centre was at Krbava. Mostly for the danger of Turks, bishop's headquarters were moved to Modruš and in 1493, the year of battle at Krbava, bishop was forced to escape to Novi Vinodolski. That diocese was around 1630 legally united to the diocese of Senj. For some time (1460 - 1534) in Gacka existed special diocese of Otočac. After liberation from Turks, under the administrative control of the Bishop of Senj came Lika and Krbava. Glagolitic script and old Slavic service were in use on thewhole area outside diocese
headquarters since the 9th c. When in the 13th c. it seemed to the pontifikate that the old Slavic liturgy might prove useful in uniting orthodox Slavs with the Catholic church, pope Innocent the Fourth on the 29th March 1248 granted to Bishop Philip of Senj permision to glorify the God in old Slavic language wherever such a practice had already been in use. Thus, in the glagolitic circles entered also the Bishop of Senj and all his canons. Such a support to the glagolitism reflected very favourably on the religious and cultural activities of the Croatian glagolitic priests laying so the foundation to the golden age of the Croatian glagolitic culture. On that region will very soon develop numerous glagolitic codes of high artistic level and will also appear our first glagolitic printing-houses. The author further gives the survey of all clerical and printig activities and most of all the activities associated with Senj. He presents also his own reflections on the role of Martin Živković, the goldsmith from Senj, in the activities of the glagolitic printing-house at Senj. He introduces also one written document wherefrom some have deduced that before the foundation of printing-house from Senj there was one still older at Kosinj. When the glagolitic priests of modern world were not able to prepare required glagolitic books for printing, that task was then taken over by the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith at Rome (Propaganda), but under the influence of the Ruthenian monks our liturgical books have been russianized. For that reason, priests from our territories were hardly prepared to accept them and they gradually passed in liturgy to latin script and national language. In view of the fact that in those times it was not able that such a practice
would get a consent from Rome, Dragutin ParČić prepares in 1893 glagolitic missal in which he restored Croatian editing. Likewise, since in those times the question of the old Slavic language in liturgy was a bit politicized, the people in dioceses of Senj and Modruš did not want to use in liturgy old Slavic instead of their national language. There were opposition even among some priests. Although the glagolitic missal was in the end in general accepted, it was nevertheless clear that the clergy was loath to learning glagolitic script. So, in 1927 Josip Vajs prepared new glagolitic missal but with latin script. In the first part of the 13th c. glagolitic monuments were occuring seldom which somehow suggested that glagolitism on our territory was on its beam ends. After the pope's letter to the Bishop Philip of Senj, the relations towards the glagolitism were changed in its favour, which may concede the conclusion that pope Innocent the Fourth and Bishop Philip of Senj were restorers of the glagolitism and old Slavic liturgy.
Keywords
millenium of the croatian glagolitism; 750th anniversary; letter of the Pope Inocent the Four; Bishop Filip of Senj
Hrčak ID:
42893
URI
Publication date:
29.3.1998.
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