Nicholas Tavelic
{{short description|Croatian Franciscan friar, martyr and Catholic saint}}
{{Infobox saint
|honorific_prefix= Saint
|name = Nicholas Tavelic, O.F.M
|honorific_suffix=
|birth_date = c. 1340
|death_date = November 14, 1391
|venerated_in = Catholic Church
(Croatia & Franciscan Order)
|image = File:Sveti-Nikola-Tavelic.jpg
|imagesize = 220px
|caption = Portrait of Tavelić from ca. 1500
|birth_place = probably Šibenik, Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia
|death_place = Jerusalem, Mamluk Sultanate
|titles = Religious, Priest and Martyr
|beatified_date = 1889
|beatified_place = Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, Papal States,
|beatified_by = Pope Leo XIII
|canonized_date = June 21, 1970
|canonized_place = Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City,
|canonized_by = Pope Paul VI
|attributes =
|patronage =
|major_shrine = Croatian National Shrine of St. Nicholas Tavelic in Šibenik, Croatia{{cite web|url=https://svetiste-sibenik.hr|language=hr|title=Hrvatsko nacionalno svetište sv. Nikole Tavelića|trans-title=Croatian National Shrine of St. Nicholas Tavelic|access-date=14 November 2023|website=svetiste-sibenik.hr|publisher=Croatian National Shrine of St. Nicholas Tavelic|location=Šibenik}}
|suppressed_date =
|issues =
|prayer=
|prayer_attrib=
}}
Nicholas Tavelic, O.F.M. ({{langx|hr|Nikola Tavelić}}), was a Croatian Friar Minor, priest and missionary who was the leader of a group of friars who died a martyr's death in Jerusalem on November 14, 1391. He was beatified along with his companions, who included friars from Italy and France. All four members of his group have since been declared saints by the Catholic Church, making Tavelic the first canonized Croatian saint.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/tavelic-nikola-sv|lang=hr|encyclopedia=Croatian Encyclopedia|publisher=LZMK|location=Zagreb|year=2021|access-date=14 November 2023|title=Tavelić, Nikola, sv.}}
Life
File:Arheološka zona Bribirska glavica 2.jpg, where Tavelic became a monk.]]
Most sources mention Šibenik as Tavelic's birthplace, but another possible location is Velim near Stankovci. He is considered to originate from a noble family. In 1365, Tavelic became a friar in Bribir,{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://proleksis.lzmk.hr/4135/|lang=hr|title=Tavelić, Nikola, sv.|encyclopedia=Proleksis Encyclopedia|publisher=LZMK|location=Zagreb|date=30 December 2014|access-date=14 November 2023}} the seat of the Šubić, a powerful Croatian noble family.{{cite journal|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/284891 |title=Srednjovjekovni franjevački samostan i crkva sv. Marije u Bribiru|trans-title=The Medieval Fransican monastery and church of St. Mary in Bribir|last=Laszlo Klemar|first=Kosjenka|language=hr|journal=Contributions to the History of Art in Dalmatia|volume=43|issue=1|year=2016|pages=87–105|publisher=Literary Circle of Split|location=Split|issn=0555-1145}}
Tavelic was among 60 friars from various Franciscan provinces who answered an appeal by the Bosnian guardian, motivated by a papal bull, Prae cunctis, issued in 1291 by Pope Nicholas IV, himself a Friar Minor, to work as missionaries in Bosnia, combating the perceived heresies of the Bosnian Church. Tavelic spread Catholicism around Bosnia for 12 years. In his report to the pope, the Bosnian guardian later said that the missionaries converted around 50,000 members of that Church.
In 1383, Tavelic went to serve in the Custody of the Holy Land where he met the friars Deodatus Aribert of Rodez, {{ill|Peter of Narbonne (saint)|lt=Peter of Narbonne|de|Petrus von Narbonne}} and {{ill|Stephen of Cuneo|lt=Stephen|it|Stefano da Cuneo}} of Cuneo. The four lived at the Monastery of Mount Zion, the ancient friary maintained by the Friars Minor in the city, where they spent several years learning Arabic and serving at the holy sites connected to Jesus' life, which had been entrusted to the care of the Order of Friars Minor and which still drew pilgrims from Christian Europe.
After having seen few, if any, conversions from the Muslim populace of the city resulting from their quiet pastoral work at the holy sites of Christianity, Tavelic and his colleagues decided to take the option given to them in the Rule of Life of their founder, Francis of Assisi, and to preach openly the Christian faith to the Muslim populace. They went to the regular gathering before the Qadi of Jerusalem and began to preach. Following their arrest for this, they refused the option to convert to Islam and were imprisoned. After again refusing to convert several days later, the group were all sentenced to death. These missionaries were executed near the Jaffa Gate on November 14, 1391, and their remains completely burned.{{cite web|url=http://theblackcordelias.wordpress.com/2009/11/14|work=The Black Cordelias|title= Saints Nicholas Tavelic, Stephen of Cuneo, Deodato Aribert from Ruticinio and Peter of Narbonne, November 14|access-date=13 September 2015}}
Veneration
Image:Zion Franciscan Monastery1.jpg of the Franciscan friars in Jerusalem, where St. Nikola lived.]]
Image:HR-Sibenik-Franziskanerkloster-1.jpg
Friar Gerard Chalvet, O.F.M., was the guardian of the Jerusalem friary and witnessed their executions. Together with Friar Martin of Šibenik, he sent a detailed report to Europe: the pope, Leipzig, Šibenik and elsewhere. Tavelic and his companions were soon celebrated as martyrs by Franciscans all over Europe, especially in Šibenik.
Five centuries later, in 1880, Antun Josip Fosco, the Bishop of the Diocese of Šibenik, started the procedure for the Holy See for the formal beatification of Tavelic. By a special decree, Pope Leo XIII recognized his ancient cultus for the Šibenik Diocese in 1889 and for the entire Franciscan Order in 1898. Two years later, the same thing was done for the Holy Land.
The cult of the friars, especially that of Tavelic, grew between the World Wars. The cultus of the other three martyrs was recognized by Pope Paul VI in 1966, with a separate feast day of 17 November. The four friars were canonized together by Pope Paul VI in front of 20,000 Croats in Vatican City, on June 21, 1970, with their conjoined feast day being 14 November.
There is {{ill|Croatian National Shrine of St. Nicholas Tavelic|hr|Hrvatsko nacionalno svetište sv. Nikole Tavelića}} in Franciscan monastery and St. Francis church in Šibenik, Croatia.
His feast day in Croatian is known as Tavelićevo ("Tavelić's day").
Churches
Image:Nikola Tavelić side-altar.jpg Church of Šibenik, Croatia.]]
First Catholic parish and parish church consecrated to Tavelić in Croatia was in Zagreb's neighbourhood Kustošija.{{cite book|last=Cecelja|first=Vilim|language=hr|title=Osnutak prve župe bl. Nikole Tavelića u Kustošiji|location=Salzburg|year=1961}} Parish was established on 29 June 1939 and foundation stone for a church was consecrated by auxiliary bishop of Zagreb Josip Lach on 16 November 1941. Church was consecrated by archbishop Alojzije Stepinac on 14 November 1943.{{cite web|url=http://www.nikolatavelic.com/zupa-sv-nikole-tavelica/povijest-zupe|title=Povijest župe|trans-title=Parish history|website=nikolatavelic.com|publisher=St. Nikola Tavelić Parish Zagreb, Kustošija|access-date=14 November 2023|language=hr|last=Milas|first=Krunoslav}}
First church consercration to Tavelić out of Croatia was one in Bezdanski put near Sombor on 14 November 1971.{{cite web|url=https://zkvh.org.rs/sakralni-objekti/sakralni-objekti-backa/crkva-sv-nikole-tavelica-bezdanski-put-sombor|website=zkvh.org.rs|language=hr|publisher= Department for culture of Croats of Vojvodina|title=Crkva sv. Nikole Tavelića – Bezdanski put (Sombor)|trans-title=St. Nikola Tavelić Church – Bezdanski put (Sombor)|date=23 November 2020|access-date=14 November 2023}}
Most churches dedicated to Tavelić are located in Croatia. Some of them are in Banjevci, Cerovac, Lišani, Perković, Split, Vinjani, Zagreb, Rijeka and Županja. Churches abroad can be found in Hurlingham, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Montreal and Winnipeg{{cite journal|lang=hr|url=https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2019_06_62_1216.html|title=Odluka o dodjeli priznanja Povelja Republike Hrvatske za nesebičan i izniman doprinos u pružanju socijalne i duhovne skrbi te za dugogodišnju pastoralnu djelatnost mađu hrvatskim iseljenicima u Kanadi|year=2019|journal=Narodne Novine}} in Canada, Melbourne{{cite web|url=http://www.cronet.com.au/cliftonhill.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010426230014/http://www.cronet.com.au/cliftonhill.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2001-04-26|work=Cronet|title=Background}} and Sydney in Australia and Tomislavgrad in Bosnia-Herzegovina
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book|first=Antonio|last=Crnica|title=Historico-iuridica dilucidatio vitae, martyrii et gloriae beati N. Tavelic|location=Rome|year=1958|lang=la}}
- {{cite book|first=Dominik|last=Mandić|author-link=Dominik Mandić|title=Documenta martyrii beati Tavelic|location=Rome|year=1958|lang=la}}
{{Croatian saints}}
{{Portalbar|Saints|Croatia|Catholicism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavelic, Nicholas}}
Category:Croatian Friars Minor
Category:14th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests
Category:Franciscan missionaries
Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests
Category:14th-century Christian saints
Category:Croatian Roman Catholic saints
Category:Beatifications by Pope Paul VI
Category:Canonizations by Pope Paul VI