Matija Petar Katančić (; 1750–1825) was a Croatian writer and scholar. His fields include poetry, literary theory, philology, lexicography, aesthetics, archaeology, and numismatics. He is considered the father of Croatian archaeology in modern

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Biography

Matija Petar Katančić was born on 12 August, 1750 in

Valpovo Valpovo is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is close to the Drava river, northwest of Osijek. As of 2021, 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 ...

. As a bootmaker's son, he received his initial education in his native town, to continue his further education in Pecs,

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

, Baja and Szegedin. He had begun his noviciate in

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. ...

and entered the

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 ...

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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

where he became a professor at the Classical Gymnasium (1788–95) and also started keeping company with the Bishop of Zagreb, Maksimilijan Vrhovac. During this time, he published a number of philological works on

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 ...

but also published his collection of poetry in Latin and Croatian titled Fructus auctumnales (1791), which also contains a polemic in prosody titled ''Brevis in prosodiam Illyricae linguae animadversio''. He was later elected professor of archaeology and numismatics in Budim (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 is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

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 (

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 ...

). 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

(Illyrians) and his texts written in the fully formed Štokavian-ikavian dialect of Croatian made a strong impact on the Croatian national revival. He died in

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 ...

on May 26, 1825.

Published works

Scientific works

* ''In veterem Croatorum patriam indagatio philologica'' (Philological research into the ancient homeland of the Croats), 1790, Zagreb * ''Specimen philologiae et geographiae Pannoniorum'' (Specimen of the philology and geography of the Pannonians), 1795, Zagreb * ''Elementa numismaticae'' (Basics of numismatics), 1799, Buda

Poetry

* Poskočnica Pana i Talije na Crnom brdu, 1788 (lost) * ''Fructus auctumnales'' (Autumn fruits), 1791, Zagreb (poems in Latin and Croatian) * ''De poesi illyrica libellus ad leges aestheticae exactus'' (A small book on Illyrian poetry, drawn up according to the laws of aesthetics), 1817, Buda

References

External links

Matija Petar Katančić
on Croatian Encyclopedia
Biography of Matija Petar Katancic at Hrvatska pošta

Fructus Auctumnales
on Zagreb Library Digital Collections {{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 18th-century Croatian poets 19th-century Croatian poets