Paškal Jukić

Paškal "Paško" Jukić (; ; 1748 – 7 November 1806) was a preacher, musician, and professor of philosophy in the Makarska lyceum in present-day Croatia. He is best known for editing the Italian-Croatian bilingual newspaper Il Regio Dalmata – Kraglski Dalmatin, considered to be the first periodical printed in Croatian, published between 1806 and 1810. Since Jukić belonged to a group of Franciscan friars who went on to become prominent figures in the cultural life of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the second half of the 19th century, some sources compare him to other influential writers of the time such as Vuk Karadžić and Ljudevit Gaj.

Biography Jukić was born in 1748 in Živogošće, a coastal village in Dalmatia, some 20 kilometres south of Makarska, which was at the time part of the Republic of Venice. After completing the Franciscan elementary and middle schools in his hometown, in 1767 he joined the Franciscan order, and later became professor of philosophy at the Makarska lyceum. Jukić also worked as a translator in the Zadar-based government office of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

Launching the newspaper on 12 July 1806 as a weekly news digest, Jukić contributed to the first dozen or so editions of Il Regio Dalmata – Kraglski Dalmatin before dying in Zadar less than four months later on 7 November 1806. In the early 20th century friar Juraj Božitković conducted extensive research of Jukić's literary manuscripts found in the archives in Makarska, and published the results of his findings in his work Friar Paskal Jukić and his unpublished poems about prince Ivan Mirković in 1938.