Matej, Bishop of Makarska

Matej was a Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Makarska and also administered the Diocese of Duvno from 1375 to 1392.

Biography

Marijan Žugaj writes that Matej was a Franciscan friar from Dubrovnik and that on 8 July 1348 Pope Clement VI appointed him as his chaplain. On the other hand, Ivan Ostojić states that he was a Benedictine monk and that he was an abbot of the Benedictine abbey of St. Andrew on the isle of Svetac. On 5 March 1375, he was present at a civil litigation regarding a house in Trogir as a nominated, but still unconfirmed bishop of Delmite. In another litigation from 1386 regarding the collection of the church tithe in Oriovica in the Diocese of Trogir, he was referred to as the bishop of Dalmatia. Again, in another document from Trogir dated in 1390, Matej is referred to as the bishop of Makarska and Dalmia as well as the general vicar of Archbishop Andreas Gualdi of Split. Ante Škegro states that it is unclear whether Dalmia refers to the Diocese of Duvno or another Dalmatia diocese, since in a notary document of the Archdiocese of Split from 18 May 1392, he was mentioned as the bishop of Dalmatia. In another document of the Archdiocese of Split from 1399, Matej is again mentioned as the bishop of Dalmatia and a co-plaintiff against a certain lessee of the revenues of the village of Srinjin. Škegro states that the possibility that he was the bishop of Duvno from 1392 to 1412 is low since, during that time, the bishop of Duvno was Juraj Imoćanin. However, Škegro states that Dalmatia could be another name for the Diocese of Makarska since the same title was used for the previous bishops of Makarska. Thus, Škegro concludes that it is possible that Matej was the bishop of Makarska who administered the Diocese of Duvno until Juraj Imoćanin's appointment.

Luke Wadding mentions that Juraj Imoćanin succeeded Matej as the bishop of Duvno after his death.

Footnotes