NONA (Aenona), Ancient Diocese of. - The small city of N. (Nin), situated on one of the northernmost points of the Dalmatian coast, in the vicinity of Zara, played a very important part in the religious life of the Croats. The historian Bulić and other scholars have definitively abandoned the old tradition, which maintained that the diocese of N. was of apostolic origin with as its first bishop St. Asellus or Anselm - the name alone suggests Frankish influence of the 9th century - one of the 72 disciples of the Lord.
The diocese was founded between 864 and 867: a mention of it is made for the first time in the letter of Pope St. Nicholas I. That is to say, the archbishop of Spalato and the bishops of the Dalmatian cities, as Byzantine subjects, followed Photius into schism (863), while the Croats remained faithful to the Pope and founded their own diocese at N., which comprised the entire territory of the Croatian State. The first bishop of N. whose name has been preserved is Theodosius. When later the archbishop of Spalato had again submitted to the Holy See and the ecclesiastical order had been reorganized at the Councils of Spalato in 925 and 928 in the presence of the Croatian king Tomislav, the diocese of N. was abolished through the envy of the Dalmatian bishops and its bishop Grgur was transferred to the restored see of Scardona (Skradin). The consequence of all this was dissension and strife in the Church, which in 1075 led to the restoration of the diocese of Rome, which at that time still extended through western Croatia on both sides of Mount Velebit. The diocese was a noted bulwark of the Old Slavonic language in the Roman liturgy and a center for the dissemination of Croatian political thought. It was abolished on 30 June 1828, together with other small Dalmatian dioceses, and its territory annexed to the archdiocese of Zara.
Among the illustrious bishops of N., mention should be made of Theodosius, a Croat, legate of the Pope to the Bulgarian prince Boris, Gregory and John Divnić (Difnico, 1475-1530), a holy man and of profound learning. According to the Concordat between Yugoslavia and the Holy See (signed in 1935, but not ratified) the diocese of N. was to have been restored.
Among the churches, special mention is due to the cathedral of St. Anselm, today the archpriestal and parish church; Holy Cross in Old Croatian style (9th century) and St. Ambrose with an ancient Benedictine monastery.
Bibliography4 works
Stefano Draganović