Smiljana Rendić (27 August 192626 May 1994) was a Croatian woman

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

vaticanist Vaticanology is a term coined in the 20th century to describe the field of journalism and research studying and reporting about how the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church operate. It is named after the Vatican City, the Holy See's sovereign ...

, judaist scholar, poet, notable for her reporting from

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

and for her censorship by ruling Communist authorities of Yugoslavia due to her

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and Croatian nationality.Bagdasarov, Artur
Jezik kojim nitko nikad nije govorio
he language nobody has spoken''

Vijenac ''Vijenac'' ( English: '' The Wreath'') is a biweekly magazine for literature, art and science, established in December 1993 and published by ''Matica hrvatska'', the central national cultural institution in Croatia. Historical background The ...

'' 470 (8 March 2012). Access date 15 April 2020.

Biography

Rendić was born in

Split, Croatia Split (, ), historically known as Spalato (; ; see #Name, other names), is the List of cities and towns in Croatia, second-largest city of Croatia after the capital Zagreb, the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest city on the Croatian coast ...

in 1926, in the family of Marko and Ivana (née Ruzinović) Rendić, where she attended the gymnasium. Her family's property was confiscated by the Communist authorities due to her father's activity in Croatian Peasants' Party. Hence she was unable to finish her higher education, she was firstly employed in Jugovinil factory. Later she moved to

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

, where thanks to her knowledge of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Rendić started working in the editorial committee of ''La Voce del Popolo'' newspaper. She also wrote for ''Pomorstvo'' ('Seamanship') magazine until 1972, as well as reported for ''

Glas Koncila ''Glas Koncila'' ("Voice of the Council") is a Croatian, Roman Catholic, weekly newspaper published in Zagreb and distributed throughout the country, as well as among Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatian diaspora. It is also a publishing ...

''Mikić, Anto (2017)
Drugi vatikanski koncil i poslijekoncilska obnova na stranicama Glasa Koncila od 1963. do 1972.
he Second Vatican Council and Post–Conciliar Renewal on the Pages of Glas Koncila from 1963 to 1972''Obnovljeni život – časopis za filozofiju i religijske znanosti'' 72 (4), 443–458. and other Catholic periodicals under the guise of her pseudonyms Vjera Marini and Madam Berith.Umrla Smiljana Rendić
miljana Rendić died

Informativna katolička agencija Informativna katolička agencija ('Informative Catholic Agency', IKA) is a Croatian Catholic news agency. History and mission The agency was established by the Croatian Bishops' Conference on with the aim to collect and publish information ab ...

(IKA). Published 27 May 1994. Access date 15 April 2020. Rendić also published her poems (mostly

sonnets A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

) in various periodicals. Rendić was sued by the Communist authorities for her article ''The genitive exit or the Second Croatian revival'' in ''Kritika'' magazine (no. 18) in 1971, in which she criticized Yugoslav integralism and "linguistic colonisation" of

Croatian language Croatian (; ) is the standard language, standardised Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by Croats. It is the national official language and literary standard of Croatia, o ...

(as partially stated in Declaration on the Name and Status of the Croatian Literary Language) and endorsed intellectual and academical requests of

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring (), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republics comprising Yugoslavi ...

.Original text of the article
published by Croatian Culture Council on 13 May 2012. Access date 15 April 2020. Rendić's advocate was Milan Vuković, who will later become president of the

Supreme Court of Croatia The Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia () is the highest court in the country, which ensures the uniform application of laws and equal justice to all. Judicial system Courts protect the legal order of the Republic of Croatia as establish ...

. As a result of the

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

at the Supreme Court of SFRY in November 1973, Rendić was forcibly retired and sentenced to one-year prison punishment, while ''Kritika'' magazine was censored. She was a member of the editorial committee of the ''Glas Koncila'' 1963–1994. For hers biblistic, judaistic and journalist work, she was awarded by

Croatian Bishops' Conference The Croatian Bishops' Conference (; ) (HBK) is an episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in Croatia. The Conference was founded on May 15, 1993 after Croatia regained its independence after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, which ...

's unique award ''Zlatno pero'' ('Golden feather') in 1988. Besides her, it wasn't awarded to anybody else. Rendić died in May 1994 in her apartment in

Trsat Trsat (, ) is part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with a historic castle or fortress in a strategic location and several historic churches, in one of which the Croatian noble Prince Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried. Trsat is a steep hill, 138 m ...

Works

''Crni šator''
(Black tent), Glas Koncila, 1967. * ''Crkva u getu'' (The Church in a ghetto), 1969. (manuscript)

(Catholic identity and the Croatian national revival: Discussions, Criticism, Reports), Glas Koncila, Zagreb, 2012, .

Legacy

The Smiljana Rendić Collection of the Archdiocesan Archives in Zagreb contains Rendić's documents, books, newspapers, articles and press clippings.COURAGE Registry, s.v. "Smiljana Rendić Collection", by Stipe Kljaić, 2018. Accessed: December 11, 2024, Founded in 1930 in Split, it was enlarged by donations of ''Glas Koncila'' in 1994 and acquisition by the Archives in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rendić, Smiljana 1926 births 1994 deaths Journalists from Split, Croatia Croatian poets 20th-century women journalists 20th-century Croatian translators Translators from Italian Translators from Latin