The Vatican Croatian Prayer Book ( hr, Vatikanski hrvatski molitvenik) is the oldest Croatian vernacular prayer book and the finest example of early Shtokavian
vernacular literary idiom.
Written between 1380 and 1400 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 a transcript and transliteration from older texts composed in a mixture of Church Slavonic and
Chakavian dialect
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmat ...
idioms and written down in
Glagolitic
The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...
with some
Bosnian Cyrillic
Bosnian Cyrillic, widely known as Bosančica is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet that originated in medieval Bosnia. The term was coined at the end of the 19th century by Ćiro Truhelka. It was widely used in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovin ...
script, it retained a few phonological and morphological features found in the original
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
s. The book contains the following parts: Offices of the Virgin Mary according to the rites of the Roman Church; seven penitentiary psalms; Offices of the Holy Cross; Offices for the dead; Offices of the Holy Spirit as well as numerous prayers. The script is the Roman Gothic, embroidered with luxuriantly outlined initials and miniatures. The name of the prayer book reflects the fact that it is held in the Vatican library. The text has become widely known from 1859, when influential Croatian historian
Franjo Rački
Franjo Rački (25 November 1828 – 13 February 1894) was a Croatian historian, politician and writer. He compiled important collections of old Croatian diplomatic and historical documents, wrote some pioneering historical works, and was a key f ...
drew attention to it, but the first critical edition did not appear until 1934, published by Croatian literary historian and philologist .
The book's central importance lies in the fact that it is the first major
Shtokavian dialect vernacular text. Although Proto-Shtokavian and mixed Church Slavonic-Shtokavian manuscripts are known to have appeared a century or two before, it is the first text in what can be termed a vernacular dialect. Analyses of the manuscript have shown that recorded morphological and phonological features are transient forms in the development of the dialect, but its syntax is quite archaic, especially compared to the idiom of later prayer books (the Croatian Prayer Book from 1450s, also from Dubrovnik and held in the library of
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 ...
, Zagreb) or the syntax of
Marin Držić
Marin Držić (; also ''Marino Darza'' or ''Marino Darsa''; 1508 – 2 May 1567) was a Croatian writer from Republic of Ragusa. He is considered to be one of the finest Renaissance playwrights and prose writers of Croatian literature.
L ...
's dramas (early 16th century).
Sources
* {{cite book, editor1-last=Fancev, editor1-first=Franjo, editor2-last=Gianelli, editor2-first=Ciro, title=Vatikanski hrvatski molitvenik i Dubrovački psaltir; dva latinicom pisana spomenika hrvatske proze 14 i 15 vijeka, year=1934, location=Zagreb, publisher=
Yugoslav 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 ...
, language=hr
14th-century Christian texts
14th-century illuminated manuscripts
Christian prayer books
Christian illuminated manuscripts
Catholic Church in Croatia
Croatian literature
Manuscripts of the Vatican Library
History of the Serbo-Croatian language