The directory «Plots»

Habdelić Juraj
(1609—1678)

Juraj Habdelić was born in Staro Čiče in a family of low rank aristocracy of Turopolje in April 1609. He was a writer and a lexicographer. He went to gymnasium probably the Jesuit Secondary School in Zagreb and continued his education in Vienna and in 1630 he entered the Jesuit order. After two years in novitiate in Leoben he graduated Philosophy in Graz (1632 – 1635), and later on he worked as a teacher in Jesuit secondary schools in Rijeka, Varaždin and Zagreb. He graduated theology in Trnava, Slovakia (1639 – 1643), and gave lectures on Jesuit collegiums in Varaždin and Trnava, where he was graduated for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He was the Dean of the Varaždin Jesuit collegium from 1649 until 1652, and after that departed to Zagreb, where he was also appointed on two occasions a Dean of the Jesuit collegium (1654 – 1657 and 1663 – 1666), he preached in a parish church St. Marcus, and was engaged in other church activities as a priest and a teacher. Thanks to him the Zagreb Jesuit Gymnasium was transformed into the Academy in the year 1669. He died in Zagreb on November 27, 1678. From the beginning of the Croatian literary historiography (I. Kukuljević) up to the present day Habdelić is considered as one of the most prominent among Croatian writers of the 17th century, writing in a Kajkavian dialect. Two books of religious prose, Mirror of Saint Mary (Graz, 1662) and First Sin of our Father Adam (Graz, 1674), represent his main literary works. The Mirror of Saint Mary is divided into seven parts; each part evaluates one human virtue or condition (sainthood, intellect and prudence, material wealth, health, beauty, strength, good reputation) describing it as a possible source of arrogance, and as a counter balance and a model of modesty suggested in examples from life of the Virgin Mary. A literary work twice as long The First Sin of our Father Adam (1181 pages) is divided into three unequal parts. It begins with the Biblical History and ends with a description of the Original Sinn. A motive of creating Eve from the Adam’s rib Habdelić used for a lengthy discussion on relations between husband and wife. In the second part he is elaborating on human tendency to sin due to Adam’s original sin („decadence of a human nature“). He also wrote about Peasant Rebellion led by Matija Gubec in the year 1573, based on a historical literary work by N. Istvánffy. In his work Habdelić forged a tale about a famous speech of Matija Gubec delivered on the eve of a decisive battle. The third part, nearly five times longer in comparison to the previous two parts, is dedicated to seven mortal sins. The most interesting substantially is the first part on arrogance; Habdelić guardedly elaborates on actual events in Croatia at that time, Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy, criticises outward adorning („dressing up“), arrogance of educated men, even arrogant behaviour among priests. The last part is written in Latin against spiritual laziness of priests, so that the common people would not understand it. His both prose works have similar compositions, characteristics of style and are divided in the main numbered parts („parts“ in Habdelić nomenclature), chapters („del“) and articles („kotrig“). According to some literary historians (9/10) his are the works with the content taken from literature, mostly from the Bible, medieval literature, and contemporary theological writers. However, particularly in The first Sinn of our Father Adam, there is a panoramic picture of the way of life of the people of that time: on housing, clothing, diet, customs. Literary historians particularly cherished Habdelić’ style: his developed hypotaxis, Baroque metaphoric expressions, satirical note. His work is full with strength and freshness, of moral didactic issues with numerous examples („pelda“) easy to be accommodated in sermons. His Dictionar is the first lexicographic work in the Kajakvian literature. It consists of around twelve thousand words and phrases translated into Latin. Dictionary was written for secondary school students of north Croatia. Belostenec, contemporary of Habdelić, used it for his ambitious lexicographical work Gazophylacium, (published posthumous in 1740). Habdelić although a strong moralist mentioned in his Dikcionar names of forty wine sorts.

Croatia, 2009, Juraj Habdelic