Zagreb Diocesan Administration in Prekmurje and Its Impact on the Region

• Main Author: Kuzmič, Franc; Pomurje Museum Murska Sobota, Murska Sobota, Slovenija
• Format: Text
• Language: Sinhala
• Published: Meridijani; [e-mail] 2004
• Subjects: diocese; Prekmurje; Zagreb diocese; church administration; škofija; Zagrebška škofija; cerkvena uprava; Letom; Malo; Stol; sami
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/78858; http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/117152

At around 1094 the Hungarian King Ladislas, after occupying Slavonia, established a diocese in Zagreb for the newly-acquired territories. Today’s Prekmurje and, until recently, Podravina regions also came under its jurisdiction. The Györ Diocese was established in 998, to which Kismarton (Željezno) County was subordinated. However, this county claimed all of Prekmurje, which led to a dispute with the Zagreb Diocese. This actually led to the convening of a church synod in Györ in 1176 which, besides Bishop Mikjulin (Miculinus) of Györ and Bishop Prodan of Zagreb, was also attended by other high officials from various fields. Veszprem also attempted to expel the Zagreb diocese from Zala County. When the situation had calmed somewhat, in 1740 Veszprem Bishop Martin Biro began to seek the restoration of his jurisdiction over all of Zala County. He included parishes in Prekmurje and Međimurje, a total of fifty. These disputes lasted for over 20 years, and the secular authorities also became involved in them, because the Empress Maria Theresa herself was aware of the problems. The Zagreb Diocese was criticised for certain shortcomings. As a consequence, in 1777 Maria Theresa established a new diocese in Sombotel. This was not the sole, principal reason for the emergence of this new diocese, for Protestantism was already quite strong in the territory covered by the Sombotel Diocese, as was the increasingly vibrant Protestant literature among the Prekmurje Slovenes. In 1777, 16 parishes from the Zagreb Diocese were incorporated into the Sombotel Diocese, of which 11 were in Hungary and 5 in lower Prekmurje. The records of the Zagreb Diocese refer to the territory of Prekmurje as “distictus Transmuranus,” from which the name Prekmurje was later derived. When they belonged to the Zagreb Diocese, the pastors of Turniš had very high and responsible positions. Zagreb Bishop Simon Bratulić brought the Jesuits to Zagreb in 1606, while in 1608, at the invitation of Krištof Bánffy, they also came to Lendava. The Jesuit missions on Bánffy’s estate from 1609 to 1619 were primarily “people’s missions” because the missionaries went to various settlements. There is a record from 1612 stating that two missionaries “persistently visited” 40 settlements. The Zagreb Diocese restored its administration over Prekmurje just before 1693, i.e. just before the Ottomans were expelled from Nagykanizs. Since it extended all the way to the territory of the Veszprem Diocese, even only in a minor section, an inter-episcopal border dispute once more arose. The Zagreb Diocese sent good priests to its parishes in Prekmurje; they were true spiritual shepherds. This is shown by the fact that in the seventeenth century, the Györ Diocese only arranged for one visit to its churches (1697-1698), while during the same century the Zagreb Diocese arranged for nine visits to its parishes in lower Prekmurje. From the records of these visits, it is apparent that the Zagreb Diocese was concerned with the religious life of both its priests and congregation. The statistics also show that the Catholic faith in the parishes of the Zagreb Diocese was well preserved, which was not the case in the Györ Diocese. They certainly also had spiritual books, either in Latin or in some other language, including Croatian, because a considerable number of basic literary works were published for that language at the time. Careful study of the work of the Zagreb Diocese in the territory of today’s Prekmurje shows that in comparison with other diocese it took good care of this area, above in the spiritual sphere. Okoli leta 1094 je madžarski kralj Ladislav, torej po zasedbi Slavonije, ustanovil za novo priključene dežele novo škofijo v Zagrebu. Tej je pripadalo prav tako ozemlje današnjega Prekmurja in do nedavnega tudi Podravina. Leta 998 je bila ustanovljena györska škofija, kateri je bila podrejena Železna županija (Vas). Toda ta županija si je lastila celotno Prekmurje, zato je prihajalo z zagrebško škofijo do sporov. Leta 1176 je bil glede tega celo cerkveni zbor v Györu, kjer so bili poleg györskega škofa Mikulina (Miculinus) in zagrebškega škofa Prodana prisotni še drugi odgovorni možje s posameznih področij. Tudi Veszprem si je prizadeval izriniti zagrebško škofijo iz zalske županije. Ko so se razmere naposled umirile, je začel leta 1740 vespremski škof Martin Biro zahtevati nazaj svojo jurisdikcijo nad celotno zalsko županijo. Vključil je tudi župnije v Prekmurju in Medžimurju, skupaj 50 župnij. Ta prerekanja so trajala več kot 20 let in vmes je posegla tudi civilna oblast, kajti zadevo so sporočili celo sami cesarici Mariji Tereziji. Zagrebško škofijo so obtoževali določenih pomanjkljivosti. Rezultat vsega tega je bil, da je cesarica Marija Terezija ustanovila leta 1777 v Sombotelu novo škofijo. Za nastanek škofije glavni razlog ni bil samo to, ampak tudi dokaj močen protestantizem na ozemlju, ki ga je pokrivala sombotelska škofija, kakor tudi vznik protestantske književne tvornosti med prekmurskimi Slovenci. Iz zagrebške škofije je bilo leta 1777 priključenih k sombotelski škofiji 16 župnij, od tega 11 na Madžarskem in 5 v dolnjem Prekmurju. V zapisnikih zagrebške škofije se za ozemlje Prekmurja uporablja izraz »districtus Transmuranus« in iz tega tudi pozneje ime za Prekmurje. Turniški župniki so imeli v času, ko so pripadali pod zagrebško škofijo, odlične in odgovorne položaje. Zasluga zagrebškega škofa Simona Bratulića je, da so prišli leta 1606 v Zagreb jezuiti in nato 1608. na povabilo Krištofa Bánffyja tudi v Lendavo. Jezuitski misijoni so bili na Bánffyjevem ozemlju v letih 1609 - 1619 v prvi vrsti »ljudski misijoni«, saj so šli misijonarji v razne vasi in za leto 1612 imamo podatek, da sta dva misijonarja »vztrajno obiskovala« 40 vasi. Zagrebška škofija je obnovila svojo upravo v prekmurskem distriktu šele malo pred letom 1693, in sicer po izgonu Turkov iz Velike Kaniže. Ker je posegla celo na področje vespremske škofije, čeprav le manjšega ozemlja, je nastal s tem spet medškofijski mejni spor. Zagrebška škofija je skrbela za svoje župnije v Prekmurju tudi z dobrimi duhovniki, ki so bili pravi dušni pastirji. Da to drži, lahko podkrepimo, da je györska škofija v 17. stol. izvedla le eno vizitacijo svojih cerkva (1697/1698), medtem ko je zagrebška škofija v istem stoletju izvedla v dolnjem Prekmurju devet vizitacij svojih župnij. Iz vizitacijskih zapisnikov zagrebške škofije vidimo tudi, kako se je ta škofija zanimala in skrbela za versko življenje tako duhovnikov kot vernikov. Iz statistike je še razvidno, da je bila v župnijah zagrebške škofije ohranjena katoliška vera zelo solidno, medtem ko v györski ne. Gotovo pa so imeli duhovniki knjige, bodisi v latinščini ali katerem drugem jeziku, tudi v hrvaščini, saj je za to govorno področje do takrat izšlo kar precej temeljnih knjižnih del. Če skrbno preučimo delovanje zagrebške škofije na ozemlju današnjega Prekmurja, ugotovimo, da je ta škofija v primerjavi z drugimi škofijami dobro skrbela tudi za to območje, predvsem v duhovnem pogledu.