KATANČIĆ, Matija Petar. — Franciscan, Croatian writer and poet, b. at Valpovo on 12 Aug. 1750, d. at Budapest on 24 May 1825. Ordained priest in 1775, he became professor at the gymnasium in Osijek (1779) and later in Zagreb; from 1795 he held the chair of archaeology at the University of Budapest.
A scholar of renown, he devoted himself chiefly to philosophy, archaeology, ancient geography, numismatics, epigraphy, and history, producing a varied and abundant body of work. Among his writings are: *La Sacra Scrittura* (6 vols., Budapest 1831); the first complete translation of the Bible into the Croatian language; *Dissertatio de columna milliaria ad Essekum reperta* (Osijek 1781, 2nd ed., ibid. 1794); *In veterem Croatorum patriam indagatio philologica* (Zagreb 1790); *Elementa numismatica* (Budapest 1824–25); *Isti adcolarum virici geographia vetus e monumentis illustrata* (2 vols., ibid. 1826–27); a book of poems, *Fructus autumnales* (Zagreb 1794), etc.