Povijesni prilozi, Vol. 23 No. 27, 2004.
Original scientific paper
A contribution to the religious history of the Carashevian Croats in the Early Modern Age
Castilia Manea Grgin
; Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar
Abstract
Carashevians (Karaševci, Krašovani) is the generic term for the Croat population that live in seven villages (approximately 6750 inhabitants) near the river Caraş, in Banat, Romania. Their main and oldest locality is Karaševo (Caraşova), which is near Nermet, Jabalča, Lupak, Klokotič, Ravnik, and Vodnik. Considerably much has been written generally about this ethnic and linguistic oasis (mainly by linguists, publicists, or ethnographers), but little about their religious history. Consequently, the works of a few historians who dealt with this topic contain very fragmentary data.
The main purpose of this paper is to reconstruct, based on sources, the religious history of the Carashevian Croats during a turbulent period, between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries. It is the period of Hungarian (until 1552), Ottoman (1552-1716/18), and Habsburg rules (from 1716/18 onwards) over the present day Banat. The misfortunes of those times had consequences even on the religious history of this region, particularly on that of Carashevian Croats.
The first reliable data about Catholic activity on the Carashevian territory are from the beginning of the sixteenth century, since preserved sources mention a Franciscan monastery in Karaševo in 1509. However, the next available information of this kind is from the times of Counterreformation and Ottoman rule over Banat. In 1619 Marin Dobrojević, at that time the chief of the Belgrade Jesuit mission, rediscovered Karaševo from the religious point of view. Thus, in 1626 a mission of the Bosnian Franciscans was founded at Karaševo, under the patronage of the Sancta Congregatio de Propaganda Fidae. The activity of this mission extended over a wider area of present day Banat. Franciscan activity maintained in Karaševo, although with interruptions, until 1652/53. Henceforth unfortunately the religious conditions of the Carashevians are much less known. The Catholic Church gained again the primate in Banat after 1716/18, as well as in the whole Habsburg Empire. Consequently, the Jesuits' activity in Karaševo started in 1721, as the only branch of the Timişoara (Temesvár, Temeswar) Jesuit mission. It is their merit that a baroque church was built in Karaševo in 1726-30 - the church is in function until today. Nevertheless, in 1739 the place of the Jesuits was taken by the Franciscans of the Bulgarian-Wallachian province, who, on their turn, had to renounce Karaševo in favor of parish priests, in 1785. In such a way, the long lasting activity of Catholic monks and missionaries in the Carashevian region was put to an end. At the same time, parishes were founded in other Carashevian localities. That new chapter which was then open in the religious history of the Carashevians is still waiting to be researched.
Keywords
Romanian Croats; Karaševo; Carashevian region; Romanian Banat; religious history; Early Modern Age
Hrčak ID:
28017
URI
Publication date:
13.12.2004.
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