Daniel Vocatius

Daniel Vocatius OFM Conv, sometimes Vocensis, Vocacensis or Vocacio (died 1577) was a Croat prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Duvno from 1551 to 1575 and the bishop of Muro Lucano from 1575 to his death in 1577.

A native of Split in present-day Croatia, Vocatius was appointed the bishop of Duvno in the Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1551, on the request of the local populace. At the same time, he was given the administration over the neighbouring Diocese of Makarska, which included the territory in the Republic of Venice (present-day Croatia) and the Ottoman Empire (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina). Vocatius pastored his dioceses and was persecuted by the Ottoman authorities, which caught him and imprisoned him in 1565. After being ransomed by the Bosnian Franciscans, he continued to administer his dioceses from Split and Omiš, but eventually escaped to Spain. In 1575, for his sufferings under the Ottomans and freeing around 500 Catholics of Dalmatia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman captivity, he was given the new Diocese of Muro Lucano in southern Italy, where he died in 1577.

Daniel Vocatius was a native of Split in present-day Croatia.^[1] He was a Conventual Franciscan friar.^[2] There are several opinions on his origin. Friar Karlo Jurišić suggested that he was surnamed Glasnović,^[3] while Ratko Perić said it might be either Glasnović or Glasnić.^[1] Friar Marijan Žugaj thinks that he might be a member of the Vukčić-Hrvatinić family or a grandson of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača.^[3]

On a formal request from the [knyaz]]es of Duvno, Grgur Lučić and Pavao Vuković, who was Vocatius' first cousin, according to Žugaj, their sons and the Duvno's populace, but in reality on the requests of the Bosnian Franciscans, Pope Julius II appointed Vocatius as the bishop of Duvno on 2 December 1551.^[4][5] He was consecrated in Rome by Cardinal Bernardino Maffei in late 1551 or early 1552.^[3][6][7] Daniele Ferlati suggested that at the same time, Vocatius was given the administration over the Diocese of Makarska.^[3]

At the end of 1551 or in early 1552, Vocatius brought with him four Illyrian priests to appoint them as parish priests in the diocese to have clergy under his direct jurisdiction. However, the Bosnian Franciscans, who considered they had an exclusive right to pastorise the area, opposed this, and the diocesan priests were sent back.^[1][6] Having encountered difficulties in his diocese, In September 1553, Vocatius went to Naples, where the Franciscan provincial Angelus Aversani wrote a recommendation to King Ferdinand I to transfer him somewhere else if necessary. Pope Paul IV personally ordered an investigation into accusations against Vocatius for his alleged double standard towards the Ottomans and his animosity towards the Franciscans. The investigation was led by the canons of the Archdiocese of Split, Frano Rosano and Bernardin Stanković. The investigation ended with the dismissal of the accusations against Vocatius.^[3]

In 1558, Vocatius was in Split, where he granted his house that he bought before his episcopacy to his sister for a 400 debt he owed to her husband.^[3] From this, Žugaj concluded that since he owned a house as a friar, Vocatius was a Conventual Franciscan, who could own property, unlike Observant Francsicans.^[2]

During Vocatius' pastoral visit to the Catholics in Herzegovina in 1563, the Ottoman authorities chased him down, so he hid in Mostar and Ljubuški. However, he was caught near Korčula and thrown into a prison in Vrgorac. Eventually, the Franciscans managed to ransom him in 1565. During the chase, the Ottomans demolished Franciscan friaries in Mostar and Ljubuški, which haven't been renovated ever after. Mandić wrote that Vocatius occasionally visited the dioceses until the outbreak of the Ottoman–Venetian War in 1570,^[8] which devastated the Dalmatian region and the neighbouring territory of the dioceses of Duvno and Makarska.^[9] Since the terror he suffered from the Ottomans in 1565,^[9] Vocatius didn't reside on the territory of his dioceses, but first in Split and later in Omiš.^[8]

Afraid for his life, Vocatius left the diocese in 1570, travelling first to Naples and then Spain.^[10] On his leave he entrusted the care of his dioceses to the ritual bishop of Smederevo Nikola Ugrinović, who pastored the dioceses from his native and neighbouring Poljica.^[8] On the recommendation from the Neapolitan royal court, King Philip II of Spain and Naples granted him a part of the income of some monastery in the Kingdom of Naples to sustain himself. In 1575, because of a long absence from his dioceses, the papal advisor Giulio Antonio Santorio reprimanded him to Pope Gregory XIII. However, thanks to the good connections he had with Philip II's father, King Charles V and some members of the Roman Curia, Vocatius managed to secure his transfer to the vacant Diocese of Muro Lucano in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata, where he was appointed the bishop on 9 May 1575.^[11][12] The Pope's decision on his transfer was also influenced by the sufferings he endured under the Ottomans, as well as the fact that Vocatius also managed to free around 500 Christians of Dalmatia and Herzegovina form the Ottomans who also settled in the Kingdom of Naples.^[11][13] Vocatius died at the beginning of 1577, while already in February of the same year, the Pope appointed his successor Vincenzo Petrolini.^[13]