Benedictine Monasteries in the Territory of Bishopric of Hvar

Rad je izvorno napisan za zbornik povodom 350 godina samostana benediktinki u Hvaru, koji nažalost nije objavljen. U njemu se donose podaci o 5 sigurnih samostana na tlu Hvarske biskupije - sv. Silvestra na Biševu, sv. Andrije na Svecu, sv. Nikole u Komiži, sv. Marije u Hvaru i sv. Ivana u Povljima, dva vjerojatna - sv. Stjepana kod Pučišća i sv. Lovre u Lovrečini na Braču, te jedinom ženskom samostanu u Hvaru. Pobrojana su i mjesta gdje se pretpostavljalo da je postojao samostan.In the territory of Bishopric of Hvar - islands of Hvar, Brač and Vis with surrounding islets - one can with certainty confirm the existence of five Benedictine monasteries from 11th to the 15th centuries: those of St. Silvester’s on Biševo, St. Andrew’s on Svetac, St. Nicholas’ in Komiža, St. Mary’s in Hvar and St. John’s in Povlja. The probable ones are St. Stephen’s in Pučišća and St. Lawrence’s in Lovrečina near Postira. From the 13th century on the Benedictines were gradually superseded by the newly founded mendicant orders, Due to very scant historical sources, many circumstances of Benedictine past in this Bishopric remain uncertain. Monasteries in Komiža, on Svetac and in Povlja managed to survive, if only nominally, up to the 19th century, but under commendatory abbots who were diocesan priests. The still extant nunnery, St. John the Baptist’s and St. Anthony the Abbot’s in Hvar, the unique female Benedictine community in the Diocese, was founded only in the 17th century. Two bishops of Hvar - Luke (1325-1337) and Lawrence Michaelis (1473-1486) - belonged to the Benedictine order, as well as father Martin Kirigin, native of Mirca on the island of Brač (1908-2001), who helped to revive the male branch of the Order, founding again the monastery of Ćokovac, the only (excluding the nunneries) existing in Croatia