Prospects in Dalmatia

...At Dubrovnik (Ragusa) where the King was popularly acclaimed as the successor of Dushan the Great, mediaeval emperor of the southern Slavs, the resident Catholic Bishop, Dr...

...There have been reassuring events within the past few weeks sufficient to counteract the attempts of certain exCatholics at galvanizing the Old-Catholic sect...

...Religious animosity was nowhere present, but rather a desire for closer harmony and united work for the affirmation of Christian principles in the face of Freemason agitators...

...King Alexander's gift to the city is a beautiful bas-relief of Saint Blaise executed by the Dalmatian sculptor Meshtrovitch and placed over the ancient gateway leading into the main thoroughfare...

...The recent tour of the Orthodox royalties, King Alexander and Queen Marie of Jugoslavia, in the predominantly Catholic land of Dalmatia, shows that this part of Jugoslavia presents special facilities for intensive work in the cause of religious unity...

...These have been carefully collected by that scientist of world-wide repute, Monsignor Francis Bulitch, founder and director of the Archeological Museum...

...He has made frequent visits to Belgrade both before and since the union of Jugoslavia, and the King has often had recourse to him for advice in connection with his numismatic collection...

...Among its treasures are many relics of the early Christian martyrs who perished during Diocletian's reign, and a valuable Gospel—the oldest in Jugoslavia—dating from the eighth century...

...The mediaeval duel between the two republics of Venice and Ragusa (Dubrovnik) which sent argosies in full tilt against each other on the high seas, belongs—let us hope—to the past, and rivalry today is confined to other spheres...

...The King spoke in moving terms of the protection which was ever bestowed by Saint Blaise on his faithful Ragusans, and of their condign gratitude for his favors...

...At Splitt (Spalato) whose ancient Roman remains have made this maritime town renowned among archeologists and lovers of antiquities, the royal yacht was welcomed by the mayor and corporation, together with the Bishop, Monsignor Bonefatchitch, who escorted the sovereigns on foot to the Cathedral where a High Mass of thanksgiving was celebrated...

...from the Adriatic coast to the Iron Gates on the Danube, one language is spoken, the national medium being now the official medium...

...Close to Splitt lies the historical spot of Solin where the Roman emperor had his amphitheatre, and where frequent excavations yield up not only Roman relics but human bones...

...But the main interest of the Dalmatians at present is the cultivation of closer ties with their Serb and Croat kinsmen from whom they had been artificially separated by an alien regime...

...In these days of so-called free thought, the sovereigns gave a good example by paying their first visit at every halting place to the principal church, be it Catholic or Orthodox...

...Dalmatia is generally looked upon as the home of the friars, and the recent appointment by the Holy Father of a "Little Brother" to the new archbishopric of Belgrade was much appreciated...

...The southern Slav groups forcibly kept asunder for so long have now come together under a democratic constitutional monarch of their own race and blood...

...The influence of its Italian neighbor on the other side of the Adriatic has been enough to refine and uplift native culture but not to destroy its Slav character...

...The southern Slavs belong mainly to the Catholic and Orthodox confessions, holding the same Christian faith on the seven Sacraments and the Apostolic Succession, untainted by Protestant heresy and differing only on one essential point, that of papal jurisdiction...

...Belgrade, although an Orthodox city, honors Saint John Capistran as a defender of its walls against the Turkish onslaught, and it is remembered that the Franciscans of Dalmatia have ever worked for the national cause...

...It must not be forgotten that Dalmatia was the custodian of Serbo-Croat literature, and that masterpieces of poetry as well as valuable works of science were produced in the monasteries and religious establishments of the Slav coast while Serbia was still wrestling with the barbarous Turk...

...Everywhere the sovereigns were met by Catholic ecclesiastics as heads of local deputations, and the presence of the King and Queen at High Mass and other Catholic services was much appreciated...

...Since the day when the patriarch and martyr had been chosen as patron and first citizen of Ragusa the people had never wavered in their Christian faith and devotion, and he had led them through many struggles and contests to final victory...

...Monsignor Bulitch has devoted a long life to the study of the Diocletian era and of the persecution of the Christians...

...It is inevitable that the Catholic mind should see in this achievement an augury for a still more important and beneficent reunion, namely a religious reunion...

...Jugoslavia is not exempt from the usual political vicissitudes attendant on party government, but there is no occasion for pessimism with regard to the stability of the state, or the more important issue of a relaxed moral code, so long as the two chief Christian bodies agree to respect each other's convictions...

...Marcelitch, unlocked the reliquary of Saint Blaise which is preserved in the Cathedral and presented it for veneration to the royal visitors...

...The ideal of southern Slav reunion, cherished in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, has been realized in this twentieth century...

...From the land of Saint Paul in Macedonia, or southern Serbia, to the Carinthian mountains of Slovenia...

...This summer a Catholic conference held in Jugoslavia, with the sanction of the Holy Father, was attended by a number of distinguished Orthodox ecclesiastics...

...Political currents, however, remain strong and cause frequent alerts since international ruling allotted Istrian territory to Italy, Fiume itself, and the stronghold of Zara (Zadar...

...This Catholic Cathedral was originally built as a mausoleum by the Emperor Diocletian, and it still retains its ancient form...

...A scheme has been drawn up and accepted by the Association of Catholic Clergy and by the Union of Orthodox Priests for cooperation in all matters affecting religious and moral life within the kingdom...