Original scientific paper
A Contribution to a Biography of Bishop Karl Anthony Donadoni of Šibenik (1723-1756)
Lovorka Čoralić
Abstract
Charles Anthony Donadoni (1672-1756) was a scion of a Venetian merchant family. Member of the Order of Franciscans Conventuals. He was educated in Venice, Modena and Rome, where in 1696 he obtained the degree of Master of Theology. He was a professor of theology and philosophy in the higher learning facilities of the Franciscans Conventuals in Padua and Venice, and was also the minister provincial of the Paduan province of St. Anthony (1721-1723). In 1723, Pope Innocent XIII named him, at the proposal of Venetian Senate, as bishop of Šibenik. In spite of the fact that he stayed in that position for 33 years and yet never learned the Croatian language, he was considered as an ardent promoter of the general renewal of ecclesiastical life in the area under his jurisdiction. He conducted many pastoral visitations to the parishes of his diocese, inspired the building of the new and repairing of the ruined sacral objects, and supported the propagation of religious education among the people. He was also a prolific writer, the author of several works of a theological and philosophical content.
An important source for writing Donadoni’s biography, especially regarding his several decades of activity in Šibenik, is his last will, written in 1751. The content of the will is a valuable testimony of the bishop’s relations with individuals participating in both the secular and the ecclesiastical life of Šibenik, but also a contribution to ecclesiastical and cultural circumstances in that city in the first half of the eighteenth century. As a supplement to the article there is published the full text of Donadoni’s will, currently kept in the State Archive of Zadar in the Deeds of Notaries of Šibenik.
Keywords
Šibenik; Venice; ecclesiastical history; Early Modern Age
Hrčak ID:
9397
URI
Publication date:
1.3.2003.
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