Nicolò Matafari (died 1367) was the archbishop of Zadar (Zara) in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

from 1333 until his death. When his city came under the control of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

in 1346, he went into exile until 1358. A native of

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

and a lawyer by training, Matafari was appointed the

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the

diocese of Padua The Diocese of Padua (; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Veneto, northern Italy. It was erected in the 3rd century.diocese of Castello in 1331. Matafari was one of the most prominent Zaratine intellectuals of his time. In 1346–1351, he wrote the ''Thesaurus pontificum'', a manual for the clergy that discusses a wide variety of liturgical duties.

Life

Nicolò Matafari was the son of Guido Matafari. He was born at Zadar towards the end of the 13th century. He had a brother, Demetrio, who became bishop of Pićan (Pedena) in 1348. His early education was with either the

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

. In 1312–1313, he studied

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

under

Giovanni d'Andrea Giovanni d'Andrea or Johannes Andreæ (1270 1275 – 1348) was an Italian expert in canon law. His contemporaries referred to him as ''iuris canonici fons et tuba'' ("the fount and trumpet of canon law"). Most important among ...

at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

. He may also have studied at the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

. By 1320, he had received his doctorate and taken

minor orders In Christianity, minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders—priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders— acolyt ...

. A document of that time calls him a ''doctor decretorum'' (doctor of canon law), but later sources call him a

doctor of both laws A doctor of both laws, from the Latin , , or ("doctor of both laws") (abbreviations include: JUD, IUD, DUJ, JUDr., DUI, DJU, Dr.iur.utr., Dr.jur.utr., DIU, UJD and UID), is a scholar who has acquired a doctorate in both civil and church law ...

. In 1320, Matafari was appointed

of the

diocese of Padua The Diocese of Padua (; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Veneto, northern Italy. It was erected in the 3rd century.Ildebrandino Conti Ildebrandino Conti ( – 2 November 1352) was a Roman nobleman and Catholic prelate who served as the bishop of Padua from 1319 until his death. Conti largely governed Padua ''in absentia''. He served the papacy in Avignon from 1310 until 1332. ...

, who was staying at the Avignonese ''curia''. By 1330, he had been granted a

canonry Canon () is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an canon law, ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the p ...

in the diocese of Várad in Hungary. According to the historian

Daniele Farlati Daniele Farlati (22 February 1690 – 25 April 1773) was an ecclesiastical historian. Biography Farlati was born in San Daniele del Friuli in the present Italian province of Udine. After having studied in Gorizia he entered, in 1707, the Soc ...

, he was the vicar of the diocese of Nona from 1330 to 1333, but this seems unlikely. On 30 October 1331, he was the vicar of the diocese of Castello for Bishop and was living in Venice. On 10 September 1333, on the recommendation of Cardinal Bertrand du Poujet, he was appointed archbishop of Zadar by

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII (, , ; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Papacy, Avignon Pope, elected by ...

. As archbishop, Matafari held a local

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

to resolve a dispute between the clergy of Zadar and those of

Rab Rab may refer to: Places * Rab (island), an island in Croatia * Rab (town), on the island of Rab * Ráb, the Slovak name of Győr, a city in Hungary * Rąb, a village in Poland People * Rab (surname), includes a list of people with the n ...

. Politically, he was a

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

and a Hungarophile. He supported the ambitions of King

Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great (; ; ) or Louis the Hungarian (; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of ...

and the autonomy of Zadar against the

. In August 1345, he went to Venice on Louis's behalf to negotiate Venetian recognition of Hungary's lordship over the Dalmatian coast, but the mission failed and Venice besieged Zadar. When the city capitulated to Venice on 21 December 1346, Matafari went into exile. Matafari spent his exile mostly in Padua, where he is recorded from 1346 until 1350 and again from 1354 to 1356. He may have made an unrecorded trip to Hungary. He was re-appointed vicar by Bishop Ildebrandino in advance of his exile in May 1345. On 15 February 1350, he was present for the translation of the body of Saint

Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua, Order of Friars Minor, OFM, (; ; ) or Anthony of Lisbon (; ; ; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor. ...

to the new basilica for reburial. Also present were Bishop Ildebrandino, Cardinal Bertrand, Cardinal Guy of Boulogne, Bishop and

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

. It is possible that the "Dalmatian, accustomed to a different environment and style" mentioned in one of Petrarch's '' Familiar Letters'' was Matafari. While Matafari was in exile, Venice asked

Pope Clement VI Pope Clement VI (; 1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 May 1342 to his death, in December 1352. He was the fourth Avignon pope. Clement reigned during the first visitation of the Black Death (1 ...

to transfer him to a different see so that a pro-Venetian bishop could be installed in Zadar. Clement refused. In the archbishop's absence, the diocese was governed by vicars. In 1351 and again in December 1357, Matafari's brother Demetrio was the vicar, indicating that he was probably still able to exercise some control over diocesan affairs. In exile, Matafari associated with the canonists of the

. In March 1355, he was present along with and when a doctorate in civil law was conferred on Antonio Ardizzoni of Alessandria. His name is on the diploma in medicine granted to Giovanni da Montegaldella on 12 April. At that time, he was once again acting as vicar of the diocese of Padua, this time for Bishop Giovanni Orsini. Matafari's later years are poorly recorded. He was able to return to Zadar in 1358. He died there in 1367 and was buried in

Zadar Cathedral The Cathedral of St. Anastasia () is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Zadar, Croatia, seat of the Archdiocese of Zadar, and the largest church in all of Dalmatia (the coastal region of Croatia). The church's origins date back to a Christian basi ...

. In 1376, his nephew Pietro Matafari became archbishop.

Works

Matafari was one of the most prominent Zaratine intellectuals of his time. Between 1346 and 1351, he wrote the ''Thesaurus pontificum'' (or ''pontificalis''), a liturgical manual for the clergy. It is his only known work. Probably written at the instigation of Ildebrandino, it was dedicated to Cardinal Bertrand. It is divided into a prologue and five parts of 14, 29, 8, 12 and 17 chapters, respectively. The first part concerns the ecclesiastical hierarchy; the second the consecration of altars, cemeteries, etc.; the third the celebration of feasts, weddings, etc.; the fourth the holding of synods and the

liturgy of the hours The Liturgy of the Hours (), Divine Office (), or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official ...

; and the fifth the sacraments. Matafari's patristic sources include

Ambrose Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

and

Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...

. His canon law sources are

Burchard of Worms Burchard of Worms ( 950/965 – August 20, 1025) was the bishop of the Imperial City of Worms, in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the author of a canon law collection of twenty books known as the '' Decretum'', ''Decretum Burchardi'', or ''Decreto ...

, the ''

Decretum Gratiani The , also known as the or or simply as the , is a collection of Catholic canon law compiled and written in the 12th century as a legal textbook by the jurist known as Gratian. It forms the first part of the collection of six legal texts, whic ...

'', the ''

Decretals of Gregory IX The Decretals of Gregory IX (), also collectively called the , are a source of medieval Catholic canon law. In 1230, Pope Gregory IX ordered his chaplain and confessor, Raymond of Penyafort, a Dominican, to form a new canonical collection de ...

'', the '' Liber Sextus'' and the '' Constitutiones Clementinae''. He also used the ''

Roman Pontifical The ''Roman Pontifical'' (Latin: ''Pontificale Romanum'') is the pontifical as used in Roman Rite liturgies of the Catholic Church. It is the liturgical book that contains the rites and ceremonies usually performed by bishops. The pontifical is ...

'', the '' Glossa Ordinaria'', the ''

Corpus Juris Civilis The ''Corpus Juris'' (or ''Iuris'') ''Civilis'' ("Body of Civil Law") is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, enacted from 529 to 534 by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. It is also sometimes referred ...

'' and the writings of

Guillaume Durand Guillaume Durand, or William Durand (c. 1230 – 1 November 1296), also known as Durandus, Duranti or Durantis, from the Italian form of Durandi filius, as he sometimes signed himself, was a French canonist and liturgical writer, and Bishop o ...

. ''Thesaurus pontificalis'' was first printed at Paris around 1521–1522 by Durand Gerlier. Its

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

text has twice been edited in modern times.In and only partially in . Matafari may also be the author of the '' Libri duo obsidionis jadrensis'', an account of the Venetian siege of 1345.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Authority control 1290s births 1367 deaths Archbishops of Zadar