Filip Lastrić (born Martin Jakovović; 1700 – 19 April 1783), also known as Philippus de Occhievia, was a Bosnian writer and friar of the Franciscan Province of Bosna Argentina. His works include the first overview of the

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

Family

Lastrić was born in a hamlet called Lastre, from which his

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; : ''cognomina''; from ''co-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditar ...

derives, part of the village Oćevija near Vareš in the Sanjak of Bosnia,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Christened Martin, he was one of at least four children of Jakov Ivanić. The family was quite poor. His younger sisters, Anđelija and Lucija, lived in Kraljeva Sutjeska following marriage, while a brother is known to have required financial help from the already ordained Lastrić.

Education and career

Lastrić probably came to the monastery of Kraljeva Sutjeska between 1712 and 1714, as the rules of the monastery stipulated that the boys should be between 12 and 14 years old upon arrival. At the monastery, Lastrić learned to read and write in " Illyrian,

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 ...

and

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

", as well as the Bosnian Cyrillic and

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

. He became a

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

in 1719, taking the name Filip. He continued his studies in the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

town of Narni, where he was ordained a priest in 1724. Lastrić's career started in the

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

n town of Požega, where he taught philosophy between 1726 and 1729. He then returned to Kraljeva Sutjeska, becoming teacher of the novices. He became custos of Bosna Argentina in 1734, and was promoted to

provincial superior A provincial superior is an officer of a religious institute (including religious orders) acting under the institute's Superior General. A provincial superior exercises general supervision over all the members of that institute in a territorial ...

in 1741. As such, he was very vocal in defending Bosnian Franciscans and lay Catholics in Rome and Vienna as well as in Ottoman courts. He served as provincial superior until 1745. Thanks to Lastrić's insistence in Rome, Bosna Srebrena was restored to the rank of

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Pope Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII (; ; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. He was installed on 16 July 1758. ...

on 15 December 1758, a year after it was demoted to a custody due to the low number of monasteries and friars. Filip Lastrić died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in Kraljeva Sutjeska on 19 April 1783.

Works

The surviving works by Filip Lastrić include a philosophy manual (preserved in manuscript) composed during his stay in Požega, four sermon collections, as well as an overview of the history of Bosna Srebrena. The latter, titled ''Epitome vetustatum Bosnensis provinciae'' (''Pregled starina Bosanske provincije'') and published in 1765, includes the first work on Bosnian geography and history. Lastrić also assisted foreigners in their writings about Bosnia, such as the Venetian Jesuit Daniele Farlati ('' Illyricum sacrum'') and the Hungarian Piarist Elek Horányi. Lastrić's other notable works are: * ''Testimonium bilabium'' (''Dvojezično svjedočanstvo''), 1755 * ''Od uzame'', 1765 * ''Nediljnik dvostruk: govorenja za svaku nedilju'', 1766 * ''Svetnjak: govorenja za svetkovinu'', 1766

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lastric, Filip 1700 births 1783 deaths Franciscans of the Franciscan Province of Bosnia 18th-century Roman Catholic priests from the Ottoman Empire Franciscan writers 18th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Bosnia and Herzegovina male writers