Vatican Archives Detail Croatian Language's Elevated Status in 16th and 17th Centuries

New archival research by Dominican friar and historian Dr. Stjepan Krasić, born in 1938, indicates that the Croatian language held a significant international standing during the 16th and 17th centuries. Dr. Krasić's findings, detailed in an article published in the University of Split journal, ST-OPEN, challenge existing historical narratives concerning the Croatian literary language. The research is based on a meticulous analysis of six original documents retrieved from the Vatican's Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith archives, historically known as the Propaganda Fide.

The central discovery revolves around a strategic decision by the Catholic Church during that era to select Croatian as the most suitable linguistic medium for communicating with all Slavic peoples. This selection followed counsel from prominent contemporary linguists who advised the Holy See that the lingua croatica was optimally positioned for missionary work across Slavic territories. This elevated status was formalized by direct papal mandates from influential pontiffs, including Pope Gregory XIII and Pope Clement VIII, who effectively designated Croatian as the official language for all Slavic nations across both centuries.

Furthermore, the research suggests that Croatian functioned as a recognized diplomatic language in various royal courts, including the court in Constantinople. This ecclesiastical policy directly resulted in Croatian being integrated into the curriculum of major European academic institutions. A pivotal moment identified by Krasić as the 'birthday of the Croatian scientific literary language' occurred in 1599 with the establishment of the Academy of the Illyrian Language at the Collegium Romanum in Rome by the Jesuits, under papal directive. The term 'Illyrian language' was commonly used in Italy at the time to refer to Croatian.

This academic focus was reinforced by a 1623 decree from Pope Urban VIII, which mandated the inclusion of Croatian in the curricula of the most prestigious universities alongside languages such as Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and Chaldean. Consequently, esteemed institutions like the universities in Paris, Oxford, Vienna, Salamanca, and Bologna were required to offer Croatian as a compulsory subject throughout the 17th century. This period of international recognition spurred internal linguistic standardization efforts, culminating in the 1604 publication of the first comprehensive grammar of the Croatian language, Bartol Kašić's *Institutiones linguae Illyricae*.

The documentation uncovered by Dr. Krasić, who previously served in the Roman Curia and as president of the Croatian Historical Institute in Rome, highlights a previously underappreciated global function for the Croatian language. The Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, established in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, was central to this policy, aiming to coordinate missionary efforts independently of colonial political agendas. The evidence points to Croatian achieving a prestigious position within European intellectual circles, operating as an international language of comparable importance to those traditionally revered, with ongoing analysis continuing to illuminate this early modern cultural history.