Early attempts of the Dubrovnik Republic towards the new Officium proprium sancti Blasii and Missa propria sancti Blasii may be traced in the sources from 1687 till 1712 through the following seven steps:
1) On 22 February 1687 the Dubrovnik authorities ordered Paolo Francesco Pierizzi, their permanent agent at the Holy See: »Tražimo da o. Rogačić sastavi posebne himne, čitanja i molitve !Fr. Rogačić to compose proper hymns, readings, and orations! za časoslov sv. Vlaha te vlastitu misu slavnoga mučenika sv. Vlaha našega Obranitelja !for the proper Office and the proper Mass of the glorious martyr St Blaise our Protector!.«
2) By March 1687, Jesuit Benedikt Rogačić, professor of rhetoric at the Roman novitiate of the Society of Jesus, composed three hymns, readings, oration, and antiphons for the Office of St Blaise, yet reluctantly approached the composition of the Mass of St Blaise as he did not consider himself fit for the task.
3) In March 1687 Rogačić sent a new version of his three hymns in the honour of St Blaise to the Jesuit fellow brother Rafo Tudišević, vice-rector of the Collegium Ragusinum, which he revised in keeping with Tudišević’s critical remarks. In addition, on the same occasion Rogačić also revised the oration and antiphons.
4) Petitioned by the Dubrovnik authorities in December 1689, Giovanni Vincenzo Lucchesini, new Archbishop of Dubrovnik, succeeded in obtaining a decree from the Sacred Congregation of Rites on 11 February 1690, by which three readings on the life and martyrdom of St Blaise composed by Honoré Fabri, approved for the Vatican Basilica of St Peter in 1672, may be regularly read on the territory of the Republic and archdiocese of Dubrovnik.
5) In February 1701, Dubrovnik authorities ordered their agent Paolo Francesco Pierizzi in Rome to try to get Tommaso Antonio Scotti, just-ordained Archbishop of Dubrovnik, to submit the supplication either directly to the Pope or the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
6) In February 1710, Dubrovnik authorities ordered Frano Volanti, newly appointed bishop of Ston, to arrange a meeting with Fr. Rogačić in Rome in order to obtain from him the integral texts of the Office and the Mass of St Blaise for the purpose of the approval by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, after which he was to have 100 copies of their editions printed by one of the printers in Rome.
7) In October 1712, Marin Marinov Caboga, special envoy of the Republic of Dubrovnik to the Holy See, had a meeting with Fr. Rogačić and managed to obtain from him the texts of the Office and the Mass of St Blaise, while Dubrovnik authorities doubled the number of copies to be printed. Upon the prompting of Cardinal Francesco Barberini Jr., Caboga was received in audience with the Pope Clement XI, whom he presented with Memoriale, accompanied with the texts of the Mass and Office of St Blaise. The pope stated that upon the reading of Rogačić’s texts, he would forward the Ragusan supplication to the Sacred Congregation of Rites for approval, and for the Ponente of Ragusan Memoriale he appointed Cardinal Francesco Barberini Jr.
Exhibition Project Concept: Ivona Michl
Authors of Exhibition: Ivica Martinović i Ivona Michl
Visual Set Up: Ivona Michl
Installation Team: Pasko Burin, Željko Ćatić, Mišo Kukuruzović, Mišo Lečić, Mario Violić
Restauration and Preparation Tretment: Željko Ćatić, Josipa Marić, Katija Maškarić, Sanja Pujo
Lenders: Arhiv Dubrovačke biskupije, Arhiv i Knjižnica franjevačkog samostana Male braće u Dubrovniku, Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku i Znanstvena knjižnica Dubrovnik
The exhibition was produced with financial support from the City of Dubrovnik.