POVIJEST REDOVNIŠTVA U SENJU I OKOLICI
THE HISTORY OF MONASTICISM IN SENJ AND THE SURROUNDINGS

Summary/Abstract: Monasticism appeared in the Church as an organised community after 313, i.e. after Christianity gained freedom. In Croatia, monasticism was also influenced by the West and the East, the Western and Eastern Churches, i.e. the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Monasticism in Senj and the surroundings remained faithful to the West, however, it inherited the Glagolitic script and Old Slavic (Old Croatian) worship from the Eastern heritage, due to which it played an important role of local, national and even global proportions. The Benedictines came to the Senj area in the 12th century and had their abbeys in Sveti Juraj, Senjska Draga and Senj. The Templars also came to Senj in the 12th century, the Franciscans a century later, and the Dominicans in the 14th century. The Pauline monasteries in Ljubotina (today Spasovac) and Vlaška Draga (today Sveta Jelena) date from the 14th century, and their presence in Senj itself was recorded in 1634. Around 1622, the Augustinians operated in Senj for a short time. When it came to material support for the monks, the Frankopans stood out in particular, and after them were King Matthias Corvinus and his successors on the throne. Of the women’s religious communities that appeared later, the activities of the Sisters of Charity (in the 19th and 20th centuries), the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (in the 20th century), the Sisters of the Immaculata (in the 20th century) and the Franciscans (also in the 20th century) were noted in Senj. The religious communities in this area made a great contribution in a religious sense, as well as in education, the spread of literacy and culture, and the development of the economy and construction. With the departure of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from Senj in 1997, the thousand-year continuity of monastic life and work in Senj and its immediate surroundings was interrupted.

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