A Contribution to the Biography of Fr. Vincenzo Basile, S.J., Zemunik Parish Administrator (1868–1871)

Abstract

This article portrays the pastoral activity of the Jesuit, Vincenzo Basile at St. Katarina’s (Virgin and Martyr) Parish in Zemunik from 1868 to 1871 based on research done into records in the Zemunik Parish Archives and also on Fr. Basile’s personal correspondence. Details heretofore unpublished are now revealed which tell of his involvement in the suppression of blood revenge customs in the the Zemunik Parish area which had been entrusted to his care, but in the Archdiocese as well; also, he was consistent in defending the sacramentality of marriage ties because of frequent occurrences of concubinage in parishes of the Zadar Archdiocese during the second Austrian administration. Through the spiritual renewals in the form of popular missions, which Fr. Basile conducted even in the Zemunik parish, and the material renewal of the St. Katarina Parish Church, we can see in this article the relationship of the people to sacral space and spiritual life in general toward the end of the 19th century.