NONA (Aenona), ancient diocese of. — The small town of N. (Nin), situated at one of the northernmost points of the Dalmatian coast, near Zara, played a most important role in the religious life of the Croats. The historiographer Bulic and other scholars have definitively abandoned the old tradition which maintained that the diocese of N. was of apostolic origin, with its first bishop, St. Asello or Anselm—the name alone suggests Frankish influence of the ninth century—being one of the 72 disciples of the Lord.
The diocese was founded between 864 and 867: it is mentioned for the first time in a letter of Pope St. Nicolaus I. That is to say, the archbishop of Spalato and the bishops of the Dalmatian cities, as Byzantine subjects, followed Photius into schism (863), whereas 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 the archbishop of Spalato had again submitted to the Holy See and the ecclesiastical organization 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 the dissension and struggles within 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 renowned stronghold of the Old Slavonic language in the Roman liturgy and a center from which Croatian political thought radiated. It was abolished on 30 June 1828, together with other small Dalmatian dioceses, and its territory was annexed to the archdiocese of Zara.
Among the illustrious bishops of N. should be remembered Theodosius, a Croat and the Pope’s legate to the Bulgarian prince Boris; Gregorio; and Giovanni Divnić (Difnico, 1475–1530), a holy man 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 should be made of the cathedral of St. Anselm, today an archpriest’s and parish church; St. Cross, in the Old Croatian style (ninth century); and St. Ambrose, with an ancient Benedictine cenobium.