Archbishop Ivan Rafael Rodić, O.F.M. (also , ; June 15, 1870 – May 10, 1954) was a Croatian Franciscan prelate, who served as the first Archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade (; ; ; ) is an archdiocese located in the city of Belgrade in Serbia. History In the 13th century, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syrmia was established, for Catholics in the most southern regions of the ...

-Smederevo between 1924 and 1936.

Biography

Rodić was born on June 15, 1870, in the village of Nurkovac, at the time in the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (; or ; ) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Kingdom of Croatia (Habs ...

. As a

Franciscan 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 institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

, he graduated from the

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

University of Theology and started teaching theology in

Baja, Hungary Baja () is a city with county rights in , southern Hungary. It is the second largest city in the county, after the county seat at Kecskemét, and is home to some 35,000 people. Baja is the seat of the Baja municipality. The environs of Baja have ...

in 1893, where he remained until 1898. He became the

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of the Franciscan monastery in Vienna, and the provincial minister of several monasteries in Croatia. Between 1881 and 1884, he was the provincial of the Province of St. John of Capistrano that included Slavonia, Syrmia and much of southern Hungary. In 1884, Rodić in his capacity as provincial declined the request of Ivan Antunović to help start a newspaper for the

Bunjevci Bunjevci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bunjevci, Буњевци, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevac, Буњевац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevka, Буњевка) are a South Slavs, South Slavic sub-ethnic ...

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

in Bačka, fearing opposition from higher authorities, but supported his cause - using their native language and relaying them news from Croatia. Antunović did nevertheless manage to start the newspaper, ''Neven'', and eventually in 1909 Rodić contributed several articles to it. He later served as the visitor general of the Order, travelling to numerous monasteries in Europe and America. On February 10, 1923, Rodić became the

apostolic administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of the newly created Diocese of Banat and moved to Veliki Bečkerek (today Zrenjanin, Serbia). The following year, on October 29, 1924, he was named the archbishop of Belgrade-Smederevo. On November 28, 1936, he was replaced as an archbishop of Belgrade and instead became the titular archbishop of Philippopolis in Thracia. He died on May 10, 1954, in Požega.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodic, Giovanni Raffaele 1870 births 1954 deaths Franciscan bishops 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Serbia Croatian Franciscans