Grgo Ilić
{{Short description|Bosnian Franciscan friar (1736–1813)}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Bishop
| honorific_prefix = The Most Reverend
| name = Grgo Ilić
| honorific_suffix = O.F.M.
| title = Apostolic Vicar of Bosnia{{-}}Titular Bishop of Ruspe
| image = Bishop fra Grgo Ilić -Varešanin, apostolic vicar.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| caption = Fra Grgo Ilić-Varešanin, portrait held at Kreševo monastery is designated national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina{{cite web |title=The architectural ensemble of the Franciscan monastery in Kreševo together with its movable property |url=http://old.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=327 |website=old.kons.gov.ba |publisher=Commission to preserve national monuments |access-date=2 May 2021 |language=en, sh |date=7 July 2003}}
| church = Catholic Church
| diocese = Bosnia
| appointed = 1 June 1799
| term_end = 1 March 1813
| predecessor = Augustin Botoš-Okić
| successor = Augustin Miletić
| ordination =
| ordained_by =
| consecration =
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1736|10|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = Vareš, Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1813|01|03|1736|10|18|df=y}}
| death_place = Kraljeva Sutjeska, Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
| buried = Friary church, Kraljeva Sutjeska
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality =
| religion = Catholic
| education =
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| module = {{Ordination
| embed = yes
| expand = History
| denomination = Catholic
| consecrated by = Fabijan Blašković
| co-consecrators = {{Ubl | | }}
| date of consecration = 28 May 1797
| place of consecration = }}
}}
Grgo Ilić, also Grgo Ilijić (Gregorius; Higlich, Hilijić-Ilijić, Hilijić-Varešanin, Hiljich de Vares, Varešanin, Ilijić-Varešanin, Zečević), also known as fra Grgo Varešanin (18 October 1736 – 1 March 1813), was Bosnian catholic bishop and Franciscan friar. He was born in Vareš, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. He served as a provincial of the Franciscan Province of Bosnia for two terms.and as the Apostolic Vicar of Bosnia for life.
Biography
Grgo Ilić was born in Vareš, Ottoman Empire (central part of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).{{cite web |title=Bishop Grgo Ilijić |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bvaress.html# |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org |publisher=[Catholic-Hierarchy] |access-date=19 March 2023 |date=9 Oct 2022}} In 1752 he entered the seminary at the Franciscan friary, Kraljeva Sutjeska, and then went to study philosophy and theology in Italy. He returned to Kraljeva Sutjeska to teach novice friars, and became friary guardian. He also served as parish priest in several (parishes) until 1774.{{cite web |title=Grgo Ilijiæ Varešanin |url=http://www.vares.pp.se/bobovac/boblist/broj94/94_05.htm |website=www.vares.pp.se |accessdate=13 August 2019 |language=sh |archive-date=31 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031071835/http://www.vares.pp.se/bobovac/boblist/broj94/94_05.htm |url-status=dead }}
He served as a provincial of the Franciscan Province of Bosnia for two terms. Pope Pius VI appointed Ilić to the position of provincial first in 1783, a position he held only for one year from opposition within the provincial electoral plenary council, and then in 1793 for a second term, this time for life. In 1796, Ilijić was named Titular Bishop of Ruspe and coadjutor apostolic vicar to Augustin Botoš-Okić. In 1798, Ilić became the apostolic vicar of Bosnia, a service he performed for the rest of his life.{{cite web |title=Bosnia (Ottoman) (Vicariate Apostolic) [Catholic-Hierarchy] |url=https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/db544.html |website=www.catholic-hierarchy.org |publisher=The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church |access-date=19 March 2023 |date=17 Mar 2023}}{{cite web |title=fra Grgo Ilić - Varešanin |url=http://hbl.lzmk.hr/clanak.aspx?id=8393 |website=hbl.lzmk.hr |publisher=Hrvatski biografski leksikon |accessdate=13 August 2019 |language=sh}}{{cite web |title=Garevac.net :: Apostolski vikar Grgo Ilijić Varešanin |url=http://arhiva.garevac.net/tekst/102/ |website=arhiva.garevac.net |accessdate=13 August 2019 |language=sh}}
Work influences and impact
As a bishop, Ilić wrote and printed many pastoral-catechist works. In Filip Lastrić's work Od’ uzame (Mleci, 1796) he published 14 of its speeches aimed at Bosnian common people: Kratko nadometnuće u’ knjižice Od’ uzame O. fra Filipa iz Oćevje. Tojest XIV. razlikî, ravnî, i kratkî, govorenjah za pùk priprostiti bosanski, a u Cvitu razlika mirisa duhovnoga (Mleci 1802); T. Babića svoja Četeri govorenja ćudoredna. He wrote and printed many of his letters, circulars, and speeches: {{lang|la|Epistola pastoralis illmi. et revmi. f. Gregorii a Varess, episcopi Ruspensis (Dubrovnik 1797); Epistola pastoralis cum aliis nonnullis litteris circularibus illustris. et reverendiss. domini fratris Gregorii a Varess, episcopi Ruspensis olim coadjutoris et modo vicarii apostolici in Bosna othomana|italic=invert}} (Padova 1800); Način pribogoljubni za štovati prisveto uznesenje Marijino na nebo (Dubrovnik 1799). He further printed {{lang|bs|Nauk krstjanski i druge stvari za znati potrebite}} (Mleci 1804), while leaving behind in writing a manuscript of {{lang|bs|Sveta govorenja prieko ciele godine}}. An important contribution to Bosnian translation is a collection of speeches of archbishop Alessandro Borgia, with whom Ilić closely associated and printed it in Dubrovnik in 1799 under the title {{lang|sh|Varhu kraljevstva Marijina, govorenja prisv. i pripoš. g. Aleksandra Borgie}}.
Legacy
The portrait of Bishop Ilić, oil on canvas, 69 x 89 cm, is kept in Franciscan friary St. Catharine in Kreševo, and on 7 July 2003 is declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina as movable property by KONS. The portrait shows Bishop Ilić sitting on his cathedra (throne) with an Episcopal crozier in his hand. On his head is a mitre and above his upper lip a mustache. Beside the cathedra is a boy with an open book directed at the bishop. In the book one page shows the Franciscan escutcheon, while the other page shows the inscription: "Homiliae et Concion R. F. Gregor and Vares Aepiscop. Ruzen Vicarii Apost. In Bosnia Argent. Annor. LXVIII A. D. MDCCCIII".{{cite web |title=Franciscan monastery together with its movable property,the architectural ensemble |url=http://aplikacija.kons.gov.ba/kons/public/nacionalnispomenici/show/327?return=&search=idgrad:undefined:56 |website=kons.gov.ba |access-date=29 January 2025 |location=Sarajevo |language=sh |date=July 7, 2003}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bosnia-herzegovina-catholic-church Catholic Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina], encyclopedia.com
{{commons category|Fra Grgo Ilić - Varešanin}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilic, Grgo}}
Category:Franciscans of the Franciscan Province of Bosnia
Category:18th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops
Category:19th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops
Category:Bishops appointed by Pope Pius VI
Category:Christian clergy from the Ottoman Empire
Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina writers
Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina Roman Catholic bishops
Category:18th-century Bosnia and Herzegovina Roman Catholic bishops