Occupation Friar Subject History, culture Language Bosnian Name Antun Knezevic | Ethnicity Bosniak Role Writer Genre Social science, poetry Resting place Jajce | |
Born 9 January 1834
Varcar Vakuf, Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire ( 1834-01-09 ) Citizenship Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian Died September 22, 1889, Kotor Varos, Bosnia and Herzegovina | ||
Fra Antun Knežević (9 January 1834 - 22 September 1889) was a Bosnian Franciscan friar, historian and writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Biography
Born in Varcar Vakuf (today Mrkonjić Grad) in 1834, his father Anto came from the town of Uskoplje, and his mother was Agata Stipić (née Ivekić) from Varcar Vakuf. His father died early and he was raised by his uncle from father's side, Fra Grgo Knežević, who when died was buried in Ivanjska village.
Fra Antun Knežević studied in Fojnica, Rome and Siena. He became friar on 26 April 1851, and held first Mass on 21 September 1856.
Fra Antun Knežević was one of the main protagonists of Bosniak nationhood, and he fiercely advocated against imminent Croatization of Bosnian Catholics on one side, as well as imminent Serbianization of Bosnian Orthodox people on the other, as he called it in his work. His position and doctrine was that all the Bosnians are one people of three faiths, and that up to late 19th century, no Croats and Serbs lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although Fra Antun Knežević was not a unique phenomenon in this sense (he took the idea directly from his fellow friar, Fra Ivan Franjo Jukić who was his teacher and mentor earlier in his life, but also many other members of Franciscan order in Bosnia, since the 17th century, accepted the idea of a Bosniak identity and transferred within the brotherhood into 18th and 19th century), he certainly had strongest impact, next to Fra Jukić, left deepest mark on Bosnian culture and history, both of them as champions of the notion that Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims are one nation, and Bosnia and Herzegovina country with deep cultural and historical roots. Knežević's, as well as Jukić's, national belonging was always and primarily defined as Bošnjak (Bosniak) in such a way so as to include all three religious groups inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina. The only other cultural identity he recognized was Illyrian, as a cultural supra-identity of all South Slavs, hence his interest and activity as a member of the Illyrian movement.
He was a great opponent of any foreign occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in his time occupation by Turkey and Austro-Hungarian Empire. Fra Antun Knezević 1877 started the construction of the Franciscan monastery in Jajce (without permission). He also opened first public school in Bosnia in his own house.
Knežević died on 22 September 1889 in Kotor Varoš while holding the folk mass. The bones were transferred to Jajce in 1955. Later friars of Jajce monastery moved the bones of Fra Antun Knežević to nearby new church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jajce, his definite resting place.