Čevapović Grgur: Katalog kapistranske provincije / Synoptico - memorialis catalogus observantis Minorum provinciae S. Joannis a Capistrano

Grgur Čevapović: Catalog of the province of Capistrano / Synoptico - memorialis catalogus observantis Minorum provinciae S. Joannis a Capistrano

Precious book by the language reformer Grgur Čevapović (Bartelevci 1786 – Buda 1830) about the history of the Franciscan province of Bosnia Srebrena. The special value of the book is the often absent large map with depictions of Franciscan monasteries in Našice, Požega, Vukovar, Brod, Osijek, etc. Octavo format, original binding with gold printing on the spine, 372 pages.

The book has a folding map (Mappa Calcographica Conventum - Provinciae S. Ioannis a Capistrano; anno 1823.) Map dimensions: 55x42 cm

Grgur Čevapović (in the sources also Grgur Ćevapović) (Bertelovci near Požega, April 23, 1786 - Buda, April 21, 1830), language reformer and Croatian writer from Hungary. He wrote plays and poems.

In 1802, he finished high school in his hometown and entered the Franciscan order. He studied philosophy in Baja and at the University of Pest, where he received his doctorate. He has been a priest since 1809 and a lecturer in philosophy in Brod na Sava and Našice. He taught history and ecclesiastical law for nine years at the theological universities in Brod and Vukovar, where he was also a guardian of the monastery. He was provincial and guardian in Vienna on two occasions. He also taught at the Požega gymnasium from 1829 [2]. First of all, he acted as a Franciscan who held pastoral, educational and superior duties. He worked in the Franciscan province of St. Ivan Kapistrano.

His letters are significant, from which we can read the gradual abandonment of Josephinism and attempts to restore Franciscan life in Slavonia and the Danube. He was open to Kant's philosophy and discussed the fundamental issues of moral theology.

He collected a wealth of cultural and literary-historical materials, especially on Latin but also Croatian works by Franciscan writers. Among his contemporaries, he appreciated M. P. Katančić the most, creating his thorough bibliography and preparing his translation of the "Bible" for the press.

He is the author of the original religious-educational school play "Josip, son of Jakob the Patriarch", which was first performed in 1819 in Vukovar. It was interwoven with verses and the text was notated and came close to the then very popular stage form "Singspiel" in Europe. Čevapović was a consistent supporter of Illyrianism and advocated for a unified Latin system for all Croatian provinces. He was a prolific and versatile writer. His works contain a wealth of information on the history, language, ethnology and culture of the Croatian people in Slavonia and the Danube.

He is extremely important for the history of the Croatian revival and Croatian political thought, also because as early as 1820 (practically, in the pre-revival period) he explicitly emphasized the Croats of Bačka and Hungary as part of the Illyrians, and he also appears as a proponent of South Slavic unity. This is what he wrote in his play Josip, the son of Jacob the Patriarch, which he published in Buda, where he stated in a biblical story that the Illyrians included "Dalmatians (while it should be remembered that this was one of the names for the Croats in Hungary), Carnivores, Istrians, Montenegrins, vocal Servians, as well as Croats, Murodravci, Bosniaks (another name for Hungarian Croats), Bunjci Podunavci, Kotorčani, Srimci and Slavonians"

As a philosophical and theological writer with modernist leanings and the author of the last Croatian Baroque depiction and advocate of a unique Croatian orthography, he successfully connected the baroque encyclopedic polyhistory with the Croatian revival and modern humanities.

He wrote, among others, for Danica Ilirska.

He is considered part of the Buda circle of Croatian Franciscan writers, together with Marijan Jaić, Mihovil Radnić, Matija Petar Katančić, Lovro Bračuljević, Grgur Peštalić, Emerik Pavić, Stjepan Vilov and others, who greatly contributed to the development of Croatian culture in Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries.