ZAGABRIA (ZAGREB), ARCHDIOCESE of. – Capital of Croatia and archdiocese. Over an area of 22,795.5 sq. km, it has 2,353,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,900,000 are Catholics. It has 385 parishes served by 612 diocesan priests and 205 religious priests, 2 seminaries, 28 houses of male religious institutes and 35 of female religious institutes (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 a prefectural seat, could proclaim itself caput totius Illyrici in 381; however, the metropolitan institution was not organised there as in other parts of the Empire. At Siscia (Sisak), on the Sava, an episcopal see had been established, of which the bishop Quirinus (v.), martyred around 304, is known; his successors are known to have been Marius (343) and Constantius (381); with the barbarian invasions the bishopric disappeared, like others in Pannonia, and its territory became part of the diocese of Z. when the latter 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 the Hungarian king St. Ladislaus (1077–95) extended his dominion over northern Croatia (1091) and, around 1094, with the approval
of the antipope Clement III, founded the diocese of Z. We are informed of this by a document of 1134, from the period of Bishop Macilinus (ca. 1130–40), the oldest original document of the diocese of Z. that is extant. With the first bishop, Duch, of Czech origin, the first priests came from Hungary, bringing with them the liturgical books still preserved today. The bishops of Z., at first suffragans of the metropolitan of Esztergom, around 1180 came under that of Kalocsa.
During the first four centuries of its existence, the diocese of Z. included part of the present dioceses of Banjaluka, Senj and Modruš, and of some others; to the north it extended beyond the Mura and Drava, a territory it later lost after the erection of the diocese of Szombathely in 1777. As a result of the Turkish invasions and the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, it received considerable groups of Orthodox Christians, who had fled before the Turks or had been brought there by them to work the land and serve as border guards. The bishops of Z., especially Vinković and Petretić, worked for the reunion of these populations, but with little success. The Uniate bishops initially had their see in the monastery of Mučić, and later a Uniate diocese was created with its see at Križevci (v.).
In the second half of the 16th century, Protestantism gained some ground among the nobility and the urban bourgeoisie, but Bishop Bratulić (1603–1611) vigorously opposed it and brought the Jesuits to Z. (1606). In 1604 the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) prohibited Protestantism and its propagation in Croatia.
The Chapter was founded shortly after the erection of the diocese. Around 1185 it had 32 canons (today 28). Many members of the Chapter distinguished themselves in various fields, even in the military one (the defence of Sisak against the Turks in 1593 was famous). At Varaždin there is a collegiate Chapter with 7 canons (founded in 1232 at Čežma, later transferred to Z., then to Lepoglava and finally to Varaždin); another collegiate Chapter, also dating from the 13th century, existed at Kaptol near Požega, but ceased to exist with the Turkish occupation in 1536.
As early as the time of Bishops Stephen II (13th century) and Alexander Mikulić (17th century), efforts had been made for Z. to become an archdiocese. Only under Bishop Haulik, later a cardinal, following a request by the Croatian Parliament and through the intervention of Ban Jelačić, was the diocese of Z. elevated to a metropolitan see by the bull of Pius IX Ubi primum placuit, of 11 December 1852, with Senj, Đakovo, Križevci and Belgrade as suffragans (in 1914 Belgrade was made an independent archdiocese). With this, every ecclesiastical dependence on Hungary ceased.
There are no certain data concerning the origins of Z. before the creation of the diocese. Although situated on the north-western periphery of the Croatian national territory, Z. was frequently the residence of the ban, and the Croatian parliamentary diets were often held there. In 1242 the Croato-Hungarian king Bela IV granted it the title of “free and royal city.” Until the end of the 18th century there were frequent struggles between the episcopal city (Kaptol) and the civil municipality on the hill of Gradec or Grič (the present Upper Town). In the 19th century the city’s third district, the so-called Lower Town, underwent great development; Z. truly became the common centre of the Croats. A small city 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 of south-eastern Europe. It is the seat of the Yugoslav Academy (the first Academy among the South Slavs), a university, a renowned literary and cultural society, the Matica Hrvatska, as well as numerous other institutions (the Strossmayer art gallery and the Ethnographic Museum, with a large collection of Croatian national costumes, textiles and embroideries, marvellous examples of folk art, are famous). Z. is also the principal Croatian religious centre, and not far from the city lies the most famous Croatian Marian shrine, Marija Bistrica.
The primitive Cathedral (patrons: the Assumption and Kings St. Stephen and St. Ladislaus), consecrated in 1217, was destroyed by the Tatars in 1242; Bishop Timothy (1263–1287) began the construction of a new one in a mixed Romanesque-Gothic style, which was restored and transformed into the Gothic style, with two bell towers, at the end of the 19th century (1879–95). The ramparts around the Cathedral and Kaptol date from the 15th century, with later additions. The 16th-century Archbishop’s Palace was rebuilt in the Baroque style in the 18th century. The Gothic church of St. Mark, from the 13th century, was restored in the 19th century (the modern frescoes are by J. Kljaković). Also worth mentioning are the Baroque church of St. Catherine (17th century) and, among the modern churches, that of St. Blaise, with ancient Croatian architectural motifs. The churches of the archdiocese are for the most part in the 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 Z., besides those mentioned above, the following distinguished themselves particularly: the Dominican Blessed Augustine Kažotić (1303–22, died in 1323 as bishop of Lucera, beatified in 1762); George Drašković (1563–1578), who implemented the Tridentine reform and founded the Seminary; Martin Borković; Cardinal George 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 Luigi Stepinac (born 8 May 1898, coadjutor archbishop on 28 May 1934, ordinary from 7 December 1937, condemned by the Communists on 11 October 1946 to 16 years of forced 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. – Vedi tav. CLIX.
Djuro Kokša - Ivan Vitešić