Archbishop Ivan Rafael Rodić, O.F.M. (also , it, Giovanni Raffaele Rodic; June 15, 1870 – May 10, 1954) was a Croatian Franciscan prelate, who served as the first Archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade The Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade ( la, Archidioecesis Belogradensis; sh, Beogradska nadbiskupija; hu, Belgrádi főegyházmegye) is an archdiocese located in the city of Belgrade in Serbia. History In order to regulate status of local Cath ...

-Smederevo between 1924 and 1936.

Biography

Rodić was born on June 15, 1870, in the village of

Nurkovac Nurkovac is a village in Požega-Slavonia County, Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , imag ...

, at the time in the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...

. As a

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 ...

, he graduated from the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

University of Theology and started teaching theology in

Baja, Hungary Baja () is a city with county rights in , southern Hungary. It is the second largest city in the county, after the county seat at Kecskemét, and is home to some 35,000 people. Baja is the seat of the Baja municipality. The environs of Baja have ...

in 1893, where he remained until 1898. He became the

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

of the Franciscan monastery in Vienna, and the provincial minister of several monasteries in Croatia. Between 1881 and 1884, he was the provincial of the Province of St. John of Capistrano that included Slavonia, Syrmia and much of southern Hungary. In 1884, Rodić in his capacity as provincial declined the request of Ivan Antunović to help start a newspaper for the

Bunjevci Bunjevci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bunjevci, Буњевци, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevac, Буњевац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevka, Буњевка) are a South Slavic sub-ethnic group living ...

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

in Bačka, fearing opposition from higher authorities, but supported his cause - using their native language and relaying them news from Croatia. Antunović did nevertheless manage to start the newspaper, ''Neven'', and eventually in 1909 Rodić contributed several articles to it. He later served as the

visitor general In the Catholic Church, a canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view to maintaining faith and discipline and of correcting abuses. A person delegated to car ...

of the Order, travelling to numerous monasteries in Europe and America. On February 10, 1923, Rodić became the

apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of the newly created Diocese of Banat and moved to

Veliki Bečkerek Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbi ...

(today Zrenjanin, Serbia). The following year, on October 29, 1924, he was named the archbishop of Belgrade-Smederevo. On November 28, 1936, he was replaced as an archbishop of Belgrade and instead became the titular archbishop of Philippopolis in Thracia. He died on May 10, 1954, in Požega.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodic, Giovanni Raffaele 1870 births 1954 deaths Franciscan bishops 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Serbia Croatian Franciscans