Matija Petar Katančić ( la, Mathias Petrus Katancsich; 1750–1825) was a
Croatian writer, professor of aesthetics and archaeology, lexicographer, and numismatist.
Biography
As a bootmaker's son from
Valpovo
Valpovo is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is close to the Drava river, northwest of Osijek. The population of Valpovo is 7,406, with a total of 11,563 in the municipality.
Name
In Hungarian the town is known as ''Valpó'' and in German as ''Wa ...
, he received his initial education in his native town, to continue his further education in
Pecs,
Buda,
Baja and
Szegedin. He had begun his noviciate in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and entered the
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
order, taking the name Petar. He completed his theological studies in
Osijek, and his philosophical studies, aesthetics and poetics, in Budim.
He worked for 10 years as a professor in
Osijek, and when the Germanization wave strongly hit the Osijek grammar school (in 1788), he left for
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
where he started keeping company with the Bishop of Zagreb,
Maksimilijan Vrhovac
Maksimilijan Vrhovac (23 November 1752 in Karlovac – 16 December 1827 in Zagreb) was the bishop of Zagreb. He was one of the ideological architects of the Croatian national revival, and is notable for founding the Maksimir Park in 1787, one of ...
.
He was later elected professor of archaeology and numismatics in
Budim
Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
(1795), but on account of bad health he had to stop teaching in 1800, in order to dedicate himself to science and also to the translation of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
into Croatian. In 1817 he wrote the "Booklet on
Illyrian poetry" - ''De poesi Illyrica libellus'', in which he tried to justify and explain his poetic starting position. He also published a number of very important books from the area of ancient archaeology in
Panonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now we ...
(
Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baran ...
).
Katančić died in Budim.
His work that is of utmost importance for the Croatian literature and culture is his translation of the complete Bible in six big volumes, the Old and the New Testament, published after his death, in Budim in 1831. He is also the author of two unfinished dictionaries, the huge semantic-etymological law dictionary, and the Latin-Croatian ''Etymologicon illyricum''. Though some of his huge opus remained unfinished and incomplete, Katančić's conception of the indigenousness of
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, ...
(Illyrians) and his texts written in the fully formed Štokavian-ikavian dialect of
Croatian made a strong impact on the
Croatian national revival
The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...
.
References
Biography of Matija Petar Katancic at Hrvatska pošta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katancic, Matija Petar
1750 births
1825 deaths
People from Valpovo
19th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests
Croatian writers
Croatian lexicographers
18th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests