ZAGREB, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – Capital of Croatia and an archdiocese. Covering an area of 22,795.5 km², it has 2,353,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,900,000 are Catholic. There are 385 parishes served by 612 diocesan priests and 205 regular clergy, 2 seminaries, 28 male religious houses and 35 female religious houses (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 461). Its patrons are St Ladislaus and St Florian the Martyr.
The principal Christian centre in the western Danubian provinces during the 4th century was Sirmium (v.), which, as an imperial residence under Galerius and the seat of a prefect, could claim to be the capital of all Illyricum in 381; yet the metropolitan institution was not organized there as in other parts of the Empire. On the Sava at Siscia (Sisak) a bishopric had been established, whose bishop Quirinus (v.) is known as a martyr around 304; his successors are also known: Marius (343), Constantius (381). With the barbarian invasions the see disappeared, like others in Pannonia, and its territory was incorporated into the diocese of Zagreb when this was established (cf. J. Zeiller, *Les origines chrétiennes dans les provinces danubiennes de l’Empire romain*, Paris 1918, pp. 68, 139, 364). This occurred when King St Ladislaus (1077–95) extended his rule over northern Croatia (1091) and around 1094, with the approval of the antipope Clement III, founded the diocese of Zagreb. Evidence of this is found in a document of 1134 from the time of Bishop Macilinus (c. 1130–40), the oldest surviving original document of the diocese of Zagreb.
With the first bishop, Duch, of Czech origin, came the first priests from Hungary, who brought with them liturgical books still preserved. The bishops of Zagreb, initially suffragans of the metropolitan of Strigonia, passed under that of Colocza around 1185.
In the first four centuries of its existence the diocese of Zagreb included parts of the present-day dioceses of Banja Luka, S. gna and Modruša and others; to the north it extended beyond the Mura and Drava rivers, territory later lost after the erection of the diocese of Szombathely in 1777. Following the Turkish invasions and the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, it received considerable numbers of Orthodox, fleeing before the Turks or brought by them to work the land and serve as border guards. The bishops of Zagreb, especially Vinković and Petretić, worked for the reunion of these populations, but with little success. The Uniates had their seat first in the monastery of Mučić and later a united diocese was created with its see at Križevci (v.).
In the second half of the 16th century Protestantism made some inroads among the nobility and the urban bourgeoisie, but it was energetically opposed by Bishop Bratulić (1603–11), who brought the Jesuits to Zagreb in 1606. The Croatian Parliament (Sabor) in 1604 prohibited Protestantism and its propaganda in Croatia.
The Chapter was founded shortly after the erection of the diocese. Around 1185 it numbered 32 canons (today 28). Many members of the Chapter distinguished themselves in various fields, even in the military (e.g., the defence of Sisak against the Turks in 1593). At Varaždin there is a collegiate Chapter with 7 canons (founded in 1232 at Cuzm, later transferred to Zagreb, then to Lepoglava and finally to Varaždin); another collegiate Chapter, also from the 13th century, existed at Kaptol near Požega, but it ceased with the Turkish occupation in 1536.
Already Bishops Stephen II (13th century) and Alexander Mikulić (17th century) had worked for Zagreb to become an archdiocese. Only under Bishop Haulik, later a cardinal, following a request of the Croatian Parliament and through the intervention of Ban Jelčić, was the diocese of Zagreb raised to a metropolitan see by the bull of Pius IX *Ubi primum placuit* of 11 December 1852, with Segna, Đakovo, Križevci and Belgrade as suffragans (in 1914 Belgrade was made an independent archdiocese). With this, any ecclesiastical dependence on Hungary ceased.
As to the origins of Zagreb before the creation of the diocese, there are no certain data. Situated on the north-western periphery of Croatian national territory, Zagreb frequently hosted the ban and often held the Croatian parliamentary sessions. In 1242 the Croatian-Hungarian King Béla IV granted it the title of “free and royal city.” Until the end of the 18th century there were frequent conflicts between the episcopal city (Kaptol) and the civil municipality on the hill of Gradec or Grič (today the Upper Town). In the 19th century the third district of the city, the so-called Lower Town, saw great development; Zagreb truly became the common centre of the Croats. A small town at the beginning of the 19th century with fewer than 8,000 inhabitants, it rapidly developed into a modern European city (in 1953 it had 350,452 inhabitants), becoming one of the most important commercial and financial centres in south-eastern Europe. It is the seat of the Yugoslav Academy (the first academy among the South Slavs), a university, a renowned literary-cultural society, the Matica Hrvatska, as well as numerous other institutions (notable are the Strossmayer Art Gallery and the Ethnographic Museum with a large collection of Croatian national costumes, fabrics and embroidery, wonderful examples of folk art). Zagreb is also the principal religious centre of Croatia, and not far from the city lies the most famous Croatian Marian shrine, Marija Bistrica.
The original cathedral (patrons: the Assumption and the kings St Stephen and St Ladislaus), consecrated in 1217, was destroyed in 1242 by the Tatars; Bishop Timothy (1263–87) began to build a new one in a mixed Romanesque-Gothic style, which was restored and transformed in Gothic style with two bell towers at the end of the 19th century (1879–95). The walls around the cathedral and Kaptol date from the 15th century with later additions. The archiepiscopal palace of the 16th century was rebuilt in Baroque style in the 18th century. The Gothic church of St Mark, from the 13th century, was restored in the 19th (the modern frescoes are by J. Kljaković). Also worthy of mention is the Baroque church of St Catherine (17th century) and, among modern churches, that of St Blaise, with ancient Croatian architectural motifs. The churches of the archdiocese are mostly in Baroque style. The diocesan museum (the printed catalogue dates from 1940) preserves a considerable quantity of objects of great artistic and historical value.
Among the bishops and archbishops of Zagreb, in addition to those already mentioned, the following particularly distinguished themselves: the Dominican Bl. Augustine Kažotić (1303–22, d. 1323 bishop of Lucca, beatified in 1752); Juraj Držković (1563–78), who implemented the Tridentine reform and founded the seminary; Martin Borković; Cardinal Juraj Haulik (1837–60), who in 1845 introduced into the archdiocese the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul as an independent branch and in 1860 founded the Society of St Jerome for popular religious culture; and finally Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac (b. 18 May 1898, coadjutor archbishop 28 May 1934, ordinary from 7 December 1937, condemned by the Communists on 11 October 1946 to 16 years of hard labour, created cardinal on 12 January 1953), who worked tirelessly to raise the general level of religious life, to develop charitable activities and to establish new parishes and monasteries of various Orders. – See pl. CLIX.
Zagreb, Archdiocese of – The Madonna of the Stone Gate. Panel painting from the 17th century – Zagreb, Stone Gate Arch.
Dijoro Kokša – Ivan Vitezić