The Dubrovnik Prayer Book ( sh-Cyrl, Дубровачки молитвеник, Dubrovački molitvenik) is "liber horarum" type of prayer book. This type of prayer book was the most popular religious book for the laity until the beginning of 17th century. The prayer book was printed in August 1512, in Venice. It is printed in

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

. Book was discovered to the public in 1932. According to

Milan Rešetar Milan Rešetar (February 1, 1860 – January 14, 1942) was a linguist, historian and literary critic from Dubrovnik. Biography Rešetar was born in Dubrovnik. After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he studied classical philology and Slavic languages i ...

which made analysis of script, content, spelling, and language led him to conclude that ''"the Cyrillic alphabet which is used in the manuscript was not intended for the Orthodox Church or the Orthodox faith, Cyrillic alphabet which is part of that manuscript was regularly used by our Catholics and Muslims"''. In 1512

Frančesko Micalović Frančesko Ratkov Micalović was an early 16th-century Ragusan printer who printed the first books on vernacular language of population of contemporary Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik). Micalović prepared Cyrillic script types and organized printing ...

printed two Catholic prayer books in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, in the printing house of Giorgio Rusconi (Zorzi Ruskoni) of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. One of them being ''Dubrovnik Prayer Book'' (Officio Sanctae Brigittae). Both books were printed in

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...

with elements of Glagolitic in

Shtokavian dialect Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...

after being translated from Chakavian. In the contract signed by Micalović the language of the prayer book was referred to as ''in littera et idiomate serviano'' ''. On 18 September 1512, immediately after his return to Ragusa, Micalović stated that two cases of Slavic books belonged to Đuro, father of Petar Šušić. The four-part icon from church in the Orthodox Monastery of Virgin Mary's Birth in village Sogle,

Čaška Municipality Čaška ( mk, , sq, Çashkë) is a municipality in the central part of North Macedonia. '' Čaška'' is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is located. This municipality is part of the Vardar Statistical Region. Geography T ...

(near Veles,

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

) have decorative elements painted under influence of Cyrillic ''Prayer Book'' printed by Micalović. According to Dejan Medaković,

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

decorative elements of this 16th-century icon are directly copied from ''Prayer Book'' printed by Micalović. According to Milan Rešetar members this historical and literary monument is especially valuable because it reveals the Slavic culture in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

as Serbian (even though it is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{cite book , last=Maštrović , first=Tihomil , title=Zbornik o Milanu Rešetaru: književnom kritičaru i filologu : zbornik radova s Međunarodnoga znanstvenog skupa : Beč 25. rujna 2004, Dubrovnik, 1.-2. listopada 2004 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ct4KAQAAMAAJ , year=2005 , publisher=Hrvatski studiji Sveučilišta 1512 books Republic of Ragusa Serbian Roman Catholics Cyrillo-Methodian studies Bosnian Cyrillic texts