PAULOWICH-LUCICH, Stefano. - Bishop, b. at Macarsca (Spalato) on 7 Aug. 1790, d. at Cattaro on 28 Feb. 1853. Sent to complete his studies at the Seminary of Padua, he was ordained priest there in 1814. From 1815 to 1823 he lived at Spalato, exercising pastoral ministry and teaching, before being admitted to the Institute of Sublime Ecclesiastical Education in Vienna, founded by Abbot Frint, court chaplain, with the aim of perfecting in sacred theology the best priests of the Habsburg Empire.
The following year he was entrusted with the religious assistance of Italian political prisoners at Spielberg, a mission which lasted for four years, through ten successive stays in Brno. Political and nationalistic concerns may have prevailed upon Fr. Paulowich-Lucich in this office, and although the gratuitous accusation of having violated the seal of confession does not hold, one must deplore his lack of tact with the detainees, his more police-like than priestly investigations, his interference with political and prison authorities, and his advice to the Emperor in favor of severity even when the sovereign was inclined to clemency: this is evident not only from the accusations made against him by various prisoners in their memoirs (Pellico, Maroncelli, Pallavicino, Confaloni, and especially Andryane), but also from official documents in the Moravian Archives.
Court chaplain in 1825, he was appointed by Francis I in 1827 bishop of Cattaro, in accordance with the law then in force, and confirmed by Leo XII on 28 Jan. 1828. The bishop took possession of his diocese in the following autumn, but in 1833, following a rigorous investigation conducted by the nuncio in Vienna, Gregory XVI ordered his removal, as Fr. Paulowich-Lucich proved too subservient to civil authorities, to the serious detriment of the rights of the Church. With difficulty Francis I obtained that such a severe measure be spared to Fr. Paulowich-Lucich and that the Holy See content itself with accepting his resignation.