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 was a teacher at the gymnasium of Osijek (1779) and subsequently at Zagreb; in 1795 he occupied the chair of archaeology at the University of Budapest.
A scholar of renown, he was chiefly concerned with philosophy, archaeology, ancient geography, numismatics, epigraphy, and history, producing a highly varied and exceedingly copious body of work. Among his writings may be mentioned: La Sacra Scrittura (6 vols., Budapest 1831), the first complete translation of the Bible into the Croatian language; Dissertatio de columna milliaria ad Esekum reperta (Osijek 1781, 2nd ed., ibid. 1794); In veterem Cæatorum patriam indagatio philologica (Zagreb 1790); Elementa numismatica (Budapest 1824-25); Istri adcolarum Illyrici geographia vetus e monumentis illustrata (2 vols., ibid. 1826-27); a book of poems, Fructus autumnales (Zagreb 1794), etc.