Illyricum Sacrum Volume 1: introduction

The introduction(Prolegomenon) to Volume 1 of Illyricum Sacrum consists of three parts: A history of the region of Illyricum, a history of the region of Dalmatia, and a history of the origins of the Church in these regions.

Farlati pours through ancient Greek and Roman sources for every reference to Illyria and Dalmatia he can find. Pomponius Mela, Strabo, Polybius, Appian of Alexandria, and Livy are all quoted generously. After exhausting the ancient writers, he turns to more recent publications. Johannes Lucius’ 17th century work on the history of Dalmatia, De Regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae, and Johann Ludwig Schönleben(Ludovicus Schonlebius) who wrote Carniola antiqua et nova, a history of the region today known as Slovenia. One of the more obscure references cited is Francesco Maria Mezzabarba (mediobarbi), who wrote a 17th century work Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata, cataloguing Roman Coins, some of which included inscriptions of Illyria on them.

Farlati begins his discussion on Illyrian Church’s origin by investigating whether any of the Apostles were active in the region. Given its close proximity to Rome, its easy to speculate that Peter, Paul, or one of their disciples could have passed through there.

Paul may have traveled to Illyria directly, writing writing in Romans 15:19: “So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.” Pseudo-Jerome¹, Gregory of Nyssen, Asterius of Amasea, and Peter Damian all write of Paul being in Illyria as opposed to up to its borders. Pope John VIII in his epistle to Count Peter writes

Paul, who from Jerusalem to Illyricum, that is, the region in which you now dwell, filled with the Gospel, consecrated it to the Lord God, and dedicated it”.

Outside of Paul’s writings the evidence becomes speculative and legendary. Johannes Lucius tells of a tradition that Paul traveled through the area, stopping next to the Krka river to preach the gospel. The Krka monastery in those days possessed a wooden epigraph with Slavonic markings indicating the arrival of Paul². Marin Barleti in his biography of Skanderbeg testifies that there were marble monuments in Albania that documented the arrival of Paul there.

Paulus Orosius links the arrival of Peter in Rome with the quelling of an armed rebellion in Dalmatia mentioned by Suetonius in his Life of Claudius:

The civil war was set on foot by Furius Camillus Scribonianus, governor of Dalmatia; but his rebellion was put down within five days, since the legions which had changed their allegiance were turned from their purpose by superstitious fear.

Farlati suggests it could have been Peter’s arrival in Dalmatia itself.

Others legends purport that Peter arrived in Italy at some point from Dalmatia. Farlati cites a work titled Monumenta Urbis Fani which proclaims Peter traveled to Fano from Dalmatia. He states another author named Landus Ferretius, who wrote six volumes detailing the history of Ancona, taught the same thing. However, no writings purport any conclusive evidence of Peter in Illyricum.

Paul mentions in 2 Timothy 4:10 that Titus traveled to Dalmatia. For that Farlati bestows on Titus the title of first Bishop of Dalmatia. Eusebius³ and several Martyrologies⁴ record that Titus was also the first Bishop of Crete. This tradition tends to overshadow Titus’ time in Dalmatia. Writers in Farlati’s day did not agree on whether Titus was in Dalmatia or Crete First. Johannes Lucius and Caesar Baronius put him in Crete First. Thomas the Archdeacon and Andreas Zmajevitius in Dalmatia. Farlati takes the opinion of Dalmatia first, citing The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul by Pseudo-Linus⁵, which mentions that Titus returned from Dalmatia to visit Paul in Rome. Having Titus leave Dalmatia for Rome, and then Crete, allows Farlati to set up his evidence for the next bishop of Dalmatia, Hermes, the same who is greeted by Paul in Romans 16:14.

The tradition that Hermes was bishop of Dalmatia comes from the Eastern Orthodox Menaion. None of the Latin martyrologies make mention of him as bishop of Dalmatia. Nevertheless, the tradition seemed uncontroversial in Farlati’s day. After Hermes came Domnius, who is listed as the first bishop of Salona, a Dalmatian city located in what is now southern Croatia. He cites the Acts of Saint Domnius, which state Domnius was a disciple of Peter.

Domnius, therefore, having crossed the sea in a fairly successful course, arrived at Salonas, and began to publicly and openly expound the mysteries of Christ. . . In the same city he built a church in honor of St. Mary, the Mother of God, with a most beautiful work, where he ordained the Priests of God, the Priests and Levites, and the other orders of the Sacred Ministry in it

Scholars today think it is more likely that Domnius lived in the 4th century and suffered persecution under Diocletian. Farlati lists several catalogues, none earlier in origin than the 13th century, of bishops all including Domnius.

• A manuscript titled Serbia, Albania, Dalmatia, Illyricum archived at the Pontificio Collegio Urbano (“de propaganda Fide”).
• Summa historiarum tabula: Gestis Civum Spalatinorum, suggested to have been written by Marin a Cutheis, bishop in 1402.
• A catalog from Sfortia Ponzoni, bishop in the early 17th century.
• an anonymous catalog, which Farlati calls the Roman Catalog, It is the youngest of the four, but he gives it the most importance.
• The list found in Thomas the Archdeacon’s Historia Salonitana.
• a table from the convent of Spalate of the sacred Virgins of the Benedictine Order. Listing the bishops between 1188 and 1441.
• a list from the manuscripts of Šimun Kožičić Benja (lt. Simon Bengnius), bishop of Modrus.
• The Chronicum Pontificale Salonitanum & Spalatense

The rest of Volume 1 is dedicated to looking at the notable figures who were bishops of Salona, starting with Domnius.