GIOVANNI MARKOVIĆ.— Franciscan, born in Sinj in Dalmatia on 23 Oct. 1839, died there on 22 Oct. 1910. Ordained priest in 1866, he was professor of history at the Theological Institute of Šibenik and provincial minister of his Order.
In the great movement for the union of the Slavic Churches, opposing tendencies that were too conciliatory—even to the point of attenuating certain dogmatic differences—and against the biting attacks of the dissenters against the pope and the Roman Church, M. entered the fray, pointing out the right path to union under the banner “veritatem in caritate facientes,” writing voluminous works of fundamental value: Leone il Grande e Gregorio il Grande sul primato della cattedra (Zadar 1883); Il primato del Papa nella Chiesa durante i primi otto secoli (Zagreb 1883; for this work Leo XIII conferred on him the title of doctor honoris causa); Il cesarismo e il bizantinismo nella storia dello scisma orientale (2 vols., ibid. 1891); Sull'Eucaristia con particolare riguardo all'epiclesi (ibid. 1893; 2nd ed. ibid. 1894); Gli Slavi ed i Papi (2 vols., ibid. 1897). Also worthy of mention are: Sinj e la sua gloria (ibid. 1898); Metropoli di Dioclea e Antivari (ibid. 1902); numerous articles and dissertations in which he polemicized with the Russian convert Solovev and others.