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 Pecs may refer to: *Pécs, a city in Hungary **Pécsi MFC, a football club in the Hungarian city *The pectoralis major, a major human muscle * PECS, the Picture Exchange Communication System, a means of communication for children on the autism s ...

Buda 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 ...

, 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 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 ...

order, taking the name Petar. He completed his theological studies in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, and his philosophical studies, aesthetics and poetics, in Budim. He worked for 10 years as a professor in

, and when the Germanization wave strongly hit the Osijek grammar school (in 1788), he left for

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

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 th ...

. 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 of a ...

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-Baranja ...

). 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, G ...

(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