ŠIBENIK (Sebenico), Diocese of. - City and diocese in northern Dalmatia, in Croatia (Yugoslavia). The diocese has an area of 3,625 sq km with a population of 176,570 inhabitants, of whom 135,826 are Catholics, distributed in 60 parishes, served by 60 diocesan priests and 35 regulars; it has a seminary, 6 male religious communities and 15 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 372).
The diocese was created by Pope Boniface VIII on 1 May 1298 as a suffragan of Spalato, by dismemberment from that of Traù. It was enlarged with the territories of the suppressed dioceses of Knin (1688) and Scardona (1828). From that year the diocese was a suffragan of Zara until 1920, when it became immediately subject. It is the only one among the most important Dalmatian cities that did not have an ancient origin. S. arose in the early Middle Ages and is first mentioned in 1666, being part of the Croatian Kingdom of Cressimir IV. In 1107 S. recognized the sovereignty of the King of Hungary Coloman, followed by those of Venice, of Hungary-Croatia, of Byzantium, of Hungary-Croatia. In 1221 the prerogatives that the other Dalmatian communes enjoyed were recognized for S. by Andrew, King of Hungary and Croatia, thus realizing its complete autonomy. In 1485 it obtained the right to mint coin. During the long war between Venice and the Sublime Porte, S. was besieged by the Turks. To secure and protect the city, it was decided to fortify it. Among the military works of that era the most notable is the fortress of St. Nicholas (1546), a work of G. G. Sanmicheli, who also built the beautiful loggia in the Cathedral Square (1542): destroyed by a bombardment in the Second World War, it was rebuilt on the same model.
S. submitted with the other Dalmatian cities to Venice in 1412, remaining there until the fall of the Republic (1797). From 1797 to 1805 it passed under Austria and from 1805 to 1814 it was part of the new French province created by Bonaparte, after whose defeat it returned under Austria for about a hundred years. Since 1918 it has been part of the Yugoslav State.
Famous is its Cathedral (St. James), rebuilt after the fire of 1382, between 1431 and 1555. The architects Giorgio Orsini da S. Niccolò Fiorentino, Giovanni Pribislavljić, Andrea Alessi, Fr. Laurana took part in the construction. It is an imposing building on a Greek cross plan, with three naves, in Renaissance style, except for the base with two magnificent portals, executed in Gothic-Venetian style; the baptistery has a dome. Among the other sacred buildings of the city, mention should be made of: the church of St. Mary of Valverde (1502, a work of Niccolò Fiorentino); the church and convent (founded in 1229) of St. Francis, destroyed in 1321 and then rebuilt; the church of St. John the Baptist with a beautiful stairway, a work of Pribislavljić, a pupil of Giorgio Orsini.
S. was the birthplace of many illustrious men, such as the painter and engraver Martino Rota (Kolunić), the musician fra Giovanni Lukačić (16th-17th century), the humanist Giorgio Sisgoreo (Šižgorić) «primas Hungariae», the statesman Antonio Veranzio (Vrančić, 16th century), the writer Francesco Diphnicus (Divnić, 17th century), the bishop and writer Antonio Fosco (19th century), Nicolò Tommaseo and others. In S. was also born Bl. Nicolò (Nikola) Tavilić, Jerusalem martyr (1391).
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Vincenzo Brajević