Filip Grabovac or Filip Grahovac (1697/8 – 13 February 1749) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

priest, professor, patriot, poet and writer. Grabovac was born in a village near Podosoje, Vrlika. His schooling was at the Franciscan monastery in

Brist Brist is a village in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, population 400 (census 2011). Located on the Adriatic coast between Makarska and Ploče Ploče (; it, Porto Tolero) is a town and seaport in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. Geography ...

. In 1719, he completed his novitiate. After becoming a priest, he spent some years as a lecturer. Then, for twenty years or more he served as a military

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of the Venetian army. He had come to reside in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

but his duty included frequent travels in northern Italy, especially Venice. This work was tough on him, and he suffered great bouts of ill health. His salary, which was the same as that of a soldier, didn't make things better, for he had to look after his horse from that same income. It was due to such diligent work and sacrifices that he became renowned in Verona and by 1747 was one of the province's most revered priests. In 1747, he published a few books in Venice. But Grabovac soon faced attacks from several people in Venice, presumably because of his books. Grabovac was arrested in Verona and brought to Venice, where he was put in prison. There he fell seriously ill, and was transferred first to a nearby monastery and then to the island of Santo Spirito. Soon afterwards, Grabovac succumbed to his illness and died. Although the government burned copies of his books wherever they found them, six copies of his work somehow survived. Of the six, only two remained in their entirety. In 1951, the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop Jo ...

published an edition of Grabovac's works.

References

1698 births 1749 deaths 18th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests 18th-century Croatian poets Croatian male poets 18th-century male writers Croatian Franciscans {{Croatia-writer-stub