Usage of the Croatian (Old Slavic) language and the Glagolithic script in the parishes of the present-day Diocese of Poreč and Pula on the basis of the records from episcopal visitations of the Poreč Diocese (1600 – 1800) and the preserved liturgical book

Abstract

On the basis of the preserved volumes of records from episcopal visitations the author lists information about the parishes of the present-day Diocese of Poreč and Pula where the Croatian (Old Slavic) language and Glagolithic script were in use during the 17th and 18th centuries. The first part of the paper contains a list of bishops whose records of visitations have been preserved and lists separately the parishes of the Diocese belonging to the Venetian (32 parishes) and Austrian (10 parishes) parts. To facilitate the work of possible users of the visitation records, the author adds in brackets the names of parishes in Italian and Latin. The next part of the paper brings information based on literature or preserved books about parishes from the territories of former Dioceses of Pula, Pićan and Trieste. The main part of the paper gives information on parishes from the territory of the former Diocese of Poreč, first of the Venetian part and then of the Austrian. In the last section the author analyses a few entries in the registries of death of the parish Rovinjsko Selo both as an interesting linguistic material and as an example of coexistence of two languages – Italian and Croatia. The author concludes that it is necessary to carry out further research both of the original data contained in the records of episcopal visitations and in the ad limina relations. Also, efforts must be made to find old missals, lectionaries (schiavetto), rituals and other books written in the Croatian (Old Slavic) language.