Bartol Kašić

Bartol Kašić
Bartol Kašić bust in the Town of Pag
Born	(1575-08-15)August 15, 1575 Pag, Republic of Venice (present-day Croatia)
Died	December 28, 1650(1650-12-28) (aged 75) Rome
Cause of death	natural
Residence	Pag (until 1590), Loreto (1590–1593; 1614–1618), Rome (1593–1609; 1613–1620; 1633–1650), Dubrovnik (1609–1612; 1620–1633)
Other names	Bartul Kašić Bogdančić (signature) Pažanin ("of Pag", signature)
Citizenship	Republic of Ragusa, Republic of Venice
Education	Illyric College in Loreto Rome

Bartol Kašić (Latin: Bartholomaeus Cassius, Italian: Bartolomeo Cassio; August 15, 1575 – December 28, 1650) was a Jesuit clergyman and grammarian during the Counter-Reformation, who wrote the first Croatian grammar and translated the Bible and the Roman Rite into Croatian.

Kašić was born on the island of Pag, in the Republic of Venice (in modern Croatia). His father died when he was a small child, so he was raised by his uncle Luka Deodati Bogdančić, a priest from Pag, who taught him to read and write. He attended the municipal school in the town of Pag. After 1590 he studied at the Illyric College in Loreto near Ancona, in the Papal States (in modern Italy), managed by the Jesuits. As a gifted and industrious pupil, he was sent to further studies in Rome in 1593, where he joined the Society of Jesus in 1595. Kašić continued propaganda activities of Aleksandar Komulović after his death, being even greater Pan-Slav then Komulović was. Kašić censored and edited Komulović's 1606 work (Zrcalo od Ispovijesti).

Kašić was made a priest in 1606 and served as a confessor in the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. He lived in Dubrovnik from 1609 to 1612. In 1612/13, disguised as a merchant, he went on a mission to the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia, central Serbia and eastern Slavonia (Valpovo, Osijek, Vukovar), which he reported to the pope. From 1614 to 1618 he was the Croatian confessor in Loreto. He went on his second mission in 1618/19. In old age, he described both missions in his incomplete autobiography. His second stay in Dubrovnik lasted from 1620 to 1633. Then he returned to Rome, where he spent the rest of his life.