FAMOUS CROATS 2004 - THE 300TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF FATHER ANDRIJA KAČIĆ MIOŠIĆ

The poet and popular educator Andrija Kačić Miošić was born in Brist in Dalmatia in 1704. When he entered the Franciscan order he changed the name Antun that he was given at baptism for the name Andrija. He was ordained to the priesthood in Šibenik in 1728, after which he left for Italy to continue his studies. After his return from Italy he first became lector of philosophy in Zaostrog and later lector generalis of the Franciscan seminary in Šibenik. He was guardian of the Franciscan convent in Sumartin on the island of Brač for a period of two years. While he was there, a new, more spacious convent was built to his design. In 1750 he returned to Zaostrog and dedicated himself entirely to literary and scientific work on account of which he travelled around Dalmatia, but also spent some time in Venice to collect material and edited his previously written manuscripts. It was there that he had his first, the Latin book Elementa peripathetica printed in 1752. In 1756 other books followed: the first edition of his famous book Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskog (“The pleasing speech of the Slavonic people”) and in 1760 the book Korabljica Pisma svetoga i svih vikova svita događaji poglaviti (approximately “The vessel carrying the Holy Bible and most of the main world events throughout centuries”). At this point in time he added the surname Kačić to his family name Miošić in order to stress the fact that he belonged to the famous, eminent and esteemed Croatian Kačić nobility. He died in Zaostrog on December 14, 1760. Though at the time of his life all his books were important, Kačić remained famous and recognized primarily as the author of the book Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskog. In its second edition from the year 1759, it was enlarged and expanded and it became a favourite book for Croats. It very soon spread across all the Croatian territories, wherever Croats lived – in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Srijem, Istria. By the year 1836 the book was printed ten times; its parts were translated and printed in Latin, but lso in the Serbian Slavonic language, as a book about Serbian heroes. In parts or in its entirety, Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskog has been published more than fifty times so far. Kačić’s poems were the first to be included in the world literature, and it was after them that the famous Hasanaginica was included. As Kačić’s poems were accepted rather early among the common people, many learned them by heart, even the illiterate people, and as they were considered to be folk song, Alberto Fortis wrote them down during his stay on the island of Cres (1771). Andrija Kačić chose the short epic form for his poems, rarely used in written literature up to that time. The decasyllabic verse, well known and popular among the common people, spread with Father Andrija’s book among all the Croats and became standard form of epic singing and fine speaking. What Kačić wanted to achieve with his book, by using one idea and one language, was to unite ethically and politically, the Slavonic, i.e. Croatian people that at that time lived separately under various political sovereignties in Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, in Istria, Dubrovnik, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He succeeded in his endeavour and his book was recognized and accepted as a folk and family saga of the Croatian people. Kačić probably started collecting the material for his book after returning home, particularly after he started his teaching in Šibenik. The most important events that had taken place during Kačić’s lifetime were the battles against the Turks for the defence of faith and the homeland. That is the reason he used to visit families that could offer evidence about their nobility and the fighting against the Turks. He used to visit Franciscan convents and libraries; in Venice he examined and read a great number of books that related to the history of these parts. He particularly used the data offered by Pavao Ritter Vitezović from his Croatian Kronika (“Chronicle”) as well as the book written by his brother Franciscan, Filip Grabovac Cvit razgovora naroda i jezika iliričkoga aliti rvackoga (“The flower of folk speech or language, Illyrian or Croatian”). Epic poems-patriotic songs that Kačić had listened to while travelling all over our parts set the general tone to his own poems, too. In his book Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskog there are descriptions, songs about important events or names of individuals and families that have played important roles in fighting against the Turks. There are two characters in this part that are distinguished for their bravery: Juraj Kastriotić (Skenderbeg) and Sibinjanin Janko (Janos Hunjadi). There is also the description of the early history of Croats and Slavs, i.e. the Middle Ages. Though the aesthetic value of Kačić’s poems is not entirely in proportion with the popularity that Razgovor achieved, Razgovor is yet a book that had essentially constituted the Croatian identity, both in the ideas it put forward and the language that was used to write the poems down, the ikavian štokavian dialect. Kačić’s Razgovor contributed to the awakening of ideas of national revival in other Slavonic peoples at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries: the Bulgarians, Serbs, Czechs. Razgovor has become not only a book about heroes to be read but also a book to learn about the people, their glorious history that should become the basis for the renewal and ordering of national states after the “Slavonic” people – though he sometimes refers to Croats only, in other places also to other south-Slavonic people, succeeded to free themselves from Turkish slavery. And specifically – this book used to teach how one should honour and respect one’s own people and language, adhere to it and love it. This is what makes Razgovor a unique book of Croatian literature and culture.