The church and monastery of St. Michael are situated in the very center of
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 ...
, between the main town square - People's square ( "Narodni trg" - Croatian) and the street which is called "Varoš" (Croatian). The usual nickname of the church is "The main place for confession in
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 ...
".
Description
The monastery is situated just above the church. It is the home of the friars of the Third Order of St. Francesco (TOR - Tertius Ordo Regularis). They usually wear black habits and therefore they are known as the "Black friars".
The Third order of St. Francesco in Zadar has a long history. In center of Zadar; they are first mentioned in a year of 1150.
In 1387 they were living in part of Zadar also known as Polačišće.
During the attacks of the
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 ...
, that monastery was abandoned and ruined by the decision of Zadar's town hall in 1537. So the friars moved to the monastery of St. John the Baptist which was situated only about hundred meters from its current place. They lived and worked there from 1541 to 1806.
The friars moved to their current monastery and church of St. Michael in 1818.
The Third Order of St Francis are well known in Croatia for nursing the Croatian
Glagolitic
The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...
heritage - Croatian Old Church
Slavic
Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to:
Peoples
* Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia
** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples
** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples
** West Slav ...
religious service or liturgy.
Nowadays, members of fraternity are:
* friar Božo Bugarija
* friar Edi Ricov,
* friar Nikola Nižić
* friar Alojzije Duvnjak
The guardian is friar Miroslav Barun