Mihovil Pavlinović (28 January 1831 – 18 May 1887) was a

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 ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest, politician, and writer who led Croatian National Revival in the

Kingdom of Dalmatia The Kingdom of Dalmatia (; ; ) was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). It encompassed the entirety of the region of Dalmatia, with its capital at Zadar. History The Habs ...

. He is known as a keen promoter of Croatian political thought in Dalmatia, one of the founders of the liberal People's Party and consistent advocate of unification of

and

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 ...

Early life and education

Mihovil Pavlinović was born in a small village of Podgora near

Makarska Makarska () is a town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about southeast of Split (city), Split and northwest of Dubrovnik, in the Split-Dalmatia County. Makarska is a prominent regional tourist center, located on a horseshoe-shaped bay bet ...

on January 28, 1831, in a prominent peasant family. He finished primary school in Podgora, after which he attended

minor seminary A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Priesthood (Catholic Church), Catholic priests. They are generally ...

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

where he finished gymnasium. He studied theology at the

Major seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

from which he graduated in 1854. During his time in seminary, Pavlinović began to take interest in the

Illyrian movement The Illyrian movement (; ) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of the 19th century, around the years of 1835 t ...

. He and his friend Luka Botić (who later also become a prominent writer and politician) founded students' society ''Pobratimi''. Pavlinović was ordained to the priesthood on September 23, 1854, in the ceremony in Split Cathedral.

Career

After ordination, Pavlinović shortly served as vicar in Drašnice. From 1855 to 1870, a time period during which he was entirely dedicated to political and literary work, he was officially vicar in Podgora. While traveling true his homeland, he had a chance to see all the difficulties that Croatian people had, such as the fact that all administration offices, municipalities, and schools were run by foreigners.

Political activities

Pavlinović entered politics after the failure of

Bach's absolutism The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

(1850-1859), which is known in Croatia as a period of centralization and Germanization. In August 1860, he became the first prominent Croat in Dalmatia who publicly spoke about the unification of

and

. In 1861, Pavlinović, among others, founded People's Party as a Dalmatian branch of the People's Party in

, and as opposition to anti-Croatian

Autonomist Party The Autonomist Party (; ) was an Italian-Dalmatianist political party in the Dalmatian political scene, that existed for around 70 years of the 19th century and until World War I. Its goal was to maintain the autonomy of the Kingdom of Dalmati ...

. Having acquired a wide favor, Pavlinović was elected as a member of

Diet of Dalmatia The Diet of Dalmatia (, ) was the regional assembly of the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was founded in Zadar in 1861 and last convened in 1912, before being formally dissolved in 1918, with the demise of the Empire. ...

on 1861 elections. As a member of Parliament he held a speech in Croatian which sparked protests. It was later decided because of this that MPs could also speak Croatian, which was a great success of People Party considering the immeasurably greater number of Autonomist Party MP's. On March 1, 1862, Pavlinović and his associates started publishing newspaper

Narodni list ''Narodni list'' () is an independent Croatian weekly newspaper published in Zadar, founded in 1862, making it the oldest in Croatia. ''Narodni list'', being independent, has a reputation of writing about things other newspapers dare not touch, su ...

as a Croatian-language part of the Italian-language newspaper ''Il Nazionale, periodico politico e letterario''. Pavlinović was publishing articles intended to awake national consciousness of the Croatian people in Dalmatia. He was also writing for many other newspapers and magazines including ''Glasnik dalmatinski, Iskra, La Dalmazia cattolica, Narodni koledar, Obzor, Pozor, Vijenac, and Zatočnik''. On 1865 Croatian parliamentary election, Pavlinović was elected to the Parliament. On 1873 Cisleithanian legislative election he was elected to the Imperial Council. During his term, he came into conflict with

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

ian politician Stjepan Mitrov Ljubiša because of Ljubiša's anti-Croatian stands. He was speaking Croatian in both, Croatian, and Imperial Parliament. Pavlinović's long-term struggle for Croatian resulted in the introduction of Croatian as an official language in all Dalmatian state offices in year 1883.

Ethnicity

In his youth, after the fall of the

in the early 1850s, Pavlinović accepted Serbian national consciousness, thrilled with

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

who was at the time fighting against

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 ...

for liberation and unification in

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

. He and many other seminarians from Zadar seminary, including Natko Nodilo and Luka Botić, were so impressed with Serbia that they wanted to move there, believing they would be able to develop their capabilities there and thus be of the greatest benefit to Croats. Pavlinović and his friend Jovan Sundečić embarked in 1864 on a tour to South Slavic (soon to be called Yugoslav) cities with the aim of creating a fraternal union. For a period of time, he was an editor of the Montenegrin yearbook ''Orlić''. However, after Luka Botić visited Serbia in 1868, he returned to Croatia very disappointed with what he saw there. This led to Pavlinović and his friends abandoning the idea of Serbia being a "South Slavic

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

", and accepting that Croatia and Serbia should stay separated. Pavlinović defined the program of the People's Party in Dalmatia, that was published in 1869, as a program that should be implemented in the whole of Croatia, and not only in Dalmatia. Program consisted of principles of independence and integrity of Croatia and the adoption of Croatian constitution. While People's Party in the

still had an indefinite transnational name so they would not resent the Serbs because of their shared ideas, Pavlinović thought that "Serbs want to take homeland from Croats", so he used only attributes "Croatian" rather than "Yugoslav" or "Illyrian" in the program.

List of works

Pavlinović's literary work followed his basic political ideas, so he used his works to rise national awareness of Croats in Dalmatia. * 1865 ''Ognjišar'' * 1867 ''Districts and management of parishes'' (''Kotari i župnikovanje'') * 1873 ''Songs and sermons 1860-1872'' (''Pjesme i besjede 1860-1872'') * 1875 ''Croatian thoughts'' (''Hrvatski razmišljaji'') * 1875 ''Various writings'' (''Različiti spisi'') * 1876 ''Croatian conversations'' (''Hrvatski razgovori'') * 1876 ''Folk writings'' (''Pučki spisi'') * 1879 ''People's songbook'' (''Narodna pjesmarica'') * 1882 ''Croatian and Serbian thought in Dalmatia from 1848 to 1882 '' (''Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji od godine 1848. do godine 1882.'') * 1888 ''Paths 1867-1875'' (''Puti 1867-1875'') In addition, Pavlinović donated to

Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska () is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illyrian movement during ...

211 proverbs from

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

and

Littoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely i ...

, as well as 4000-5000 words to the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

for its ''Dictionary''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlinovic, Mihovil 1831 births 1887 deaths People from Podgora, Split-Dalmatia County 19th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests People's Party (Dalmatia) politicians Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1873–1879) Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1885–1891)