Josip Mihalović

Josip Mihalović (; 16 January 1814 – 19 February 1891) was a Croatian-Hungarian Cardinal of the Catholic Church and Archbishop of Zagreb from 1870 to 1891.

Biography Origins House of Mihalović (also Mihalovich, Mihalovics, Mihalovits, Mihajlović) was a noble family from Orahovica in Slavonia that originated in Macedonia. In 1716, Emperor Charles VI granted them nobility status because they served as Habsburg officers and had fought against Ottomans during the Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War. By 1763 they were Eastern Orthodox Christians and were known under the name Mihajlović. Their economic and social rise began after their conversion to Catholicism. Several notable men came from House of Mihailović, including composer Ödön (1842–1929), Károly Dragutin (1830–1918), Hugo (1874–1956), Antun (1868–1949), the last ban of Croatia in Austria-Hungary.

Early life and education

Josip Mihalović was born in a small village of Torda in Hungary (now Vojvodina, Serbia) where he attended lower elementary school. He attended elementary school in Zrenjanin, high school in Szeged and additional schools in Timișoara where he also completed philosophy and theology studies and gained a doctorate in theology. From 1834, he worked in the episcopal office. Mihalović was ordained as a priest on 12 August 1836 by Bishop Josip Lonović. In 1837, he became a chaplain of the town parish in Timișoara and in 1837 a notary of the Holy See. In 1841, he was appointed as a bishop's secretary, and in 1846 the principal of the Office of Bishops. In February 1848, Mihalović became a canon, and in 1849, a bishop's deputy.

Revolutions of 1848 During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Mihalović sided with the Hungarian rebels. After the revolution was suppressed, he was brought before the Military Court in Timișoara. On 17 November 1848, he was deprived of all services, honourable titles, and estates, and sentenced to four years in prison, out of which he served two in the fortress in the town of Leopold near Nitra in present-day Slovakia. In 185,2 he received a pardon and was allowed to serve the next four years as a chaplain in his homeland under constant police surveillance. In October 1855, Mihalović became a parish priest in Dudeștii Vechi. Four years later, he was appointed the local school's dean and superintendent. In May 1861, he was made a canon, and in June 1861 a pastor in a local Timișoara factory, and eventually an abbot in Sveti Martin na Muri.

1880 reconstruction of the Cathedral

One of Mihalović's greatest accomplishments was the Zagreb Cathedral restoration. In 1874, bishop Strossmayer, who had large estates throughout Slavonia, started collecting funds for the Cathedral reconstruction. One of the promoters of reconstitution was also Josip Stadler. Reconstruction was interrupted on 9 November 1880 by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Zagreb. Although only one person was killed in the earthquake, it destroyed or damaged many buildings, including the cathedral. Of the 32 altars, only three were kept after renovation. After the earthquake, the reconstruction of the cathedral was conducted between 1880 and 1902 in the neo-Gothic style by the architect Hermann Bollé with funds provided by Izidor Kršnjavi.

Death

Mihailović died on 19 February 1891 in Zagreb at the age of 77. He was buried in the cathedral. Liberal magazine Obzor, which he often defied during his lifetime, paid him tribute by publishing an article which stated in part: "[Josip Mihalović] failed to justify fears of the [Croatian] people...For him, the realm of gentleness and justice were not empty words.

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