Josip Juraj Strossmayer | |
|---|---|
 Josip Juraj Strossmayer by Josip Franjo Mücke (1871) | |
| Born | (1815-02-04)4 February 1815 |
| Died | 8 April 1905(1905-04-08) (aged 90) |
| Resting place | Đakovo Cathedral,Đakovo, Croatia 45°18′27.9″N18°24′39″E / 45.307750°N 18.41083°E /45.307750; 18.41083 (Grave of Josip Strossmayer) |
| Other names | Joseph Georg Strossmayer |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Occupation(s) | Bishop, politician, professor |
| Years active | 1838–1905 |
| Known for | Founder ofYugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts |
| Political party | People's Party(until 1880) Independent People's Party(1880–1905) |
| Movement | Illyrian Movement |
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Josip Juraj Strossmayer, alsoŠtrosmajer (pronounced[jǒsipjûrajʃtrǒsmajer];German:Joseph Georg Strossmayer;[1] 4 February 1815 – 8 April 1905) was aCroatian prelate of theCatholic Church, politician andbenefactor.[2] Between 1849 and his death, he served as theBishop of Bosnia (Đakovo) and Syrmia. He was one of the key founders of theYugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (today named Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts) and theGallery of Old Masters inZagreb.
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Strossmayer was born inOsijek in theKingdom of Slavonia, then part of theAustrian Empire, to aCroatian family. His great-grandfather was anethnic German immigrant fromStyria who had married a Croatian woman. Strossmayer finished school at a JesuitHumanitas scholagymnasium in Osijek, and then graduatedtheology at theCatholicseminary inĐakovo.[3] He earned a PhD in philosophy at a high seminary inBudapest, at the age of 20.[2]
Ordained in 1838,[4] he worked as avicar inPetrovaradin, before moving toVienna in 1840 to theAugustineum and theUniversity of Vienna, where he received another doctorate in philosophy andCanon law in 1842. In 1847, he was made theHabsburg palace chaplain (a position he would hold until 1859), and named one of the rectors of the Augustineum.[2] On 18 November 1849, he was appointed Bishop of Đakovo, and was consecrated on 8 September 1850. At the same time, he wasApostolic Administrator ofBelgrade and Smederevo in Serbia. In 1898, the pope conferred thepallium on him.[2] He was a supporter of repairing theSchism between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches, and worked with the RussianecumenistVladimir Solovyov to advocate for a reunion.[4]
At theFirst Vatican Council (1869–1870), Strossmayer was one of the most notable opponents ofpapal infallibility, and distinguished himself as a speaker.[5] PopePius IX praised Strossmayer's "remarkably good Latin." A speech in which Strossmayer defended Protestantism made a great sensation.[2] Another speech, allegedly delivered on 2 June 1870 was attributed to him.[6] It was a forged by a formerAugustinian, Mexican named José Agustín de Escudero. It was full of heresies and denied not only papal infallibility, but also thepapal primacy.[2]
On 26 December 1872, Strossmayer published the decrees of the council in his official paper.[2] He later proclaimed his submission to the pope, as in his pastoral letter of 28 February 1881 on Sts. Cyril and Methodius, expressing his devotion to the papal see at times in extravagant language.[7]
In politics, Strossmayer was an active supporter of thePeople's Party, he advocated forPan-Slavism[2] andYugoslavism.[8] He started his political career in 1860, when he became member of theImperial Council. There, he spoke against centralism and absolutism, but also opposed Hungarian demands for greater independence. He supported federalization of the Austrian Empire. After Strossmayer's criticism, Imperial government made concessions regarding the official use of theCroatian language inCroatia andSlavonia.[9]
In 1861, Strossmayer became member of theCroatian Sabor (diet). There, he advocated union between Croatians and Hungarians within federalized Hungary.[8] Strossmayer was the head of the Croatian parliamentary delegation that met with the Hungarian delegation in attempt to negotiate new relationship between Croatia and Hungary, but without success. In 1866, Sabor majority, led by Strossmayer, voted that Croatians should not join theDiet of Hungary. Strossmayer personally presented this decision to the emperor in Vienna. Imperial court disregarded this Croatian decision and negotiatedAustro-Hungarian Compromise in 1867, whereby Croatia became part ofTransleithania (Hungary).[8] In 1868, Croatian and Hungarian member of the Diet of Hungary agreed on theCroatian–Hungarian Settlement, an arrangement Strossmayer opposed. He boycotted that session of the Diet.[8] Later, in 1872, Strossmayer was part of the Sabor delegation that negotiated some amendments to the Settlement with Hungarians. In 1873 Strossmayer left the Sabor, and ended his political career.[8][4]
In 1860, Strossmayer advocatedYugoslavism within federal Austria-Hungary.Charles Loiseau asserted that in 1866 Serbian PrinceMihailo proposed a secret plan for the unification of Serbs and Croats that had been prepared byJovan Ristić, PrinceNicholas I of Montenegro, and Strossmayer.[10] Strossmayer published a denial and called this a lie.[10]
Strossmayer used the large revenues of his diocese to found educational and art institutions. Under his direction,Augustín Theiner edited the"Vetera monumenta Slavorum meridionalium" (1863). During 1866-82, Strossmayer built a fine and splendidly ornamentedCathedral in Đakovo. He sought to win the non-Catholic Serbs to Rome by the use of theOld Slavonic liturgy.[2]
Strossmayer was instrumental in the founding of theYugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1866, as well as the re-establishment of theUniversity of Zagreb in 1874.[11][12] He initiated the building of the Academy Palace (completed in 1880) and set upThe Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters (1884) inZagreb.[13]
Strossmayer aided the creation of the printing house inCetinje, helped found theMatica slovenska and actively supportedMatica srpska, the national culture societies of theSlovenes and theSerbs, respectively.
Since the early days of his episcopate, he was a close friend ofFranjo Rački, the most renowned Croatian historian of his time. When the Academy was founded in 1867, Strossmayer was named chief sponsor, and Rački its President. In 1894, when Rački died, Strossmayer wrote: "I lost my dearest friend... I lost a part of myself... the good half of everything I have created was his thought, his credit and his glory". Their friendship was well documented in a series of four books containing their letters, compiled by historianFerdo Šišić.[14]
BishopNikolaj Velimirović dedicated a booklet entitledReligion and Nationality in Serbia to Strossmayer: "to the memory of the great Croatian patriot Bishop Strossmayer on the centenary of his birth (1815–1915)".[15]
In 1881,Schulzer (a Hungarian-Croatian army officer andmycologist) published a genus of fungi in the familyHelotiaceae asStrossmayeria which was named in Strossmayer's honour.[16][17]
Prague's Strossmayerovo náměstí, a public square on the north bank of theVltava river, was re-named after him in the 1960s.
Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer in 1861 proposed to the Croatian Parliament that a legal basis be established for the founding of the University of Zagreb. During his visit to Zagreb in 1869 the Emperor Franz Joseph signed the Decree on the Establishment of the University of Zagreb.
