Maksimilijan Vrhovac
Maksimilijan Vrhovac (November 23, 1752 in Karlovac – December 16, 1827 in Zagreb) was the bishop of Zagreb. He was one of the ideological architects of the Croatian national revival. Vrhovac is well-remembered for his tireless work to collect the nation's spiritual treasure and spread the access to books among the Croatian people. Specifically, in 1808 he went to the Croatian Parliament, asking that his library could be opened to the public.
His father, Elek Verhovácz was captain of frontier-guards near the Ottoman border. Vrhovac studied in Vienna and Bologna, and then became a vice-rector, and later rector, at the seminary in Zagreb, as well as a professor of dogma at the Academy in Zagreb. Emperor Joseph II promoted him to rector of the seminary in Pest, before he returned to Croatia as a bishop.
In the 1810s, Vrhovac tried to translate the Bible into Kajkavian Croatian language. The other contributors in the program were: Antun Vranić, Ivan Nepomuk Labaš, Ivan Rupert Gusić, Ivan Birling, Stjepan Korolija and Tomaš Mikloušić.
References
- Franjo Šanjek: "Kršćanstvo na hrvatskom prostoru" (Zagreb, Kršćanska sadašnjost, 1996, str. 406.)
