Aleksandar Komulović

Aleksandar Komulović
Born	1548 Split, Republic of Venice
Died	11 June 1608 (aged 59–60) Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa
Nationality	Venetian
Other names	Lesandro Komulouich, Komulić, Comuleus, Comuli, Alessandro Schiavone, Alessandro Dalmata
Occupation	Catholic priest, Papal diplomat, writer, linguist
Known for	one of the earliest Pan-Slavists
Movement	Counter-Reformation

Aleksandar Komulović (1548 – 11 June 1608) was a Catholic priest and diplomat from Venetian Dalmatia (now Croatia). Part of the Counter-Reformation, and an early Pan-Slavist, he notably led a diplomatic mission aimed to forge an anti-Ottoman coalition in support of the West during the Long Turkish War, principally in the Balkans and among the Slavs. Although he failed his mission, he inspired the Serbs to revolt. The Papacy was aware that the Latin language of the liturgical books presented an obstacle for the conversion of the South Slavs from Islam and Orthodoxy to Catholicism. Komulović belonged to the first group of Jesuit missionaries and authors who attempted to spread Catholicism among the Slavs using liturgical books in Slavic. After his death, his propaganda activities were continued by Bartol Kašić.

Komulović was born into a patrician family which was referred to in Papal and Venetian documents as Comolis or Comulis in Split, in Venetian Dalmatia (today Croatia). He finished high school, probably in Italy. Komulović was familiar with the Church Slavonic language and the Glagolitic script. He was married with a woman from Dubrovnik.

In 1576 Komulović became a member of the Society of Saint Jerome in Rome. In 1579 he was excluded from the Society because he was accused of activities against the order. He was in the service of Cardinal Iullus Antonius Santor and wrote a Slavic-language catechism, which he attempted to get printed in autumn 1579.

In 1582 he was again accepted into the Order of Saint Jerome because it was shown that the accusations against him were unjustified. In the same year the Society financed the publishing of Komulović's work Christian Doctrine for the Slavic People in Their Own Language ("Nauch Charstianschiza Slovignschi narod, v vlaasti iazich" or Italian: Dottrina Christiana per la nation Illirica nella propria lingua). This work established Komulović's reputation, especially among the Catholics of the Ottoman Empire. In 1584 Komulović was canon in Zadar, and in the same year, as an abbot in Nin, became a rector of the Academy of Saint Jerome, formerly known as St. Jerome of the Slavs (Italian: San Girolamo degli "Schiavoni") or the Illyrian Academy. He was appointed as the first arch-priest of the Church of Saint Jerome, completed in 1589.

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