| St Paul visited Croatian island of Mljet on his journey to Rome |
| By Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic |
Published
11/9/2008
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History
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Unrated
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Ignjat Djurdjevic in 18th century wrote about St Paul's shipwreck near the island of Mljet
St. Paul's shipwreck in Mare Adriaticum, i.e. the Adriatic Sea, near the island of Mljet, described in Ignjat Đurđevic's book published in Venice in 1730 under the title D. Paulus Apostolus in mari, quod nunc Venetus sinus dicitur, naufragus, et Melitae Damatensus insulae post naufragium hospes. Ignjat Đurđevic was Croatian Baroque writer from the city of Dubrovnik.
From description of St. Luke in the Acts of Apostles, chapters 27 and 28, we know that during St. Paul's journey from Caesarea to Rome there was a shipwreck on the island of Melita. At that time there were two islands on the Mediterranean bearing the name of Melita: today's Malta, and the island of Mljet not far from Dubrovnik. There are many arguments that the shipwreck occurred on this island of Mljet, and not on Malta, see [Nicetic] (professor at the University of Dubrovnik, and experienced mariner). The journey from Crete to Malta would be impossible due to unfavorable winds and unfavorable sea currents. Archeological excavations on Mljet have pointed to existence of Early Christian basilica which according to local tradition belonged to the Church of St. Paul. There are also other archeological findings on Mljet bearing Christian symbols of Syrian and Palestinian origin, dating from 5th to 6th centuries. Ignjat Djurdjevic (Ignatio Georgio, 1675/1737), a Dubrovnik baroque writer, poet, and historian, issued a book D. Paulus Apostolus in mari, quod nunc Venetus sinus dicitur, naufragus, et Melitae Damatensus insulae post naufragium hospes, Venice, 1730, kept in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, containing a map indicating that St. Paul had the shipwreck in the Adriatic (Mare Adriaticum) on the island of Mljet (Melita). Also a well known Greek statesman and historian Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, 10th century, in his well known book On Administering the Empire, mentioned that it was the island of Mljet that St. Paul visited. See See [Demovic, Glazba u staroj hrvatskoj drzavi, pp 109]. Miho Demovic: Sveti Pavao bio na Mljetu i osnovao Pracrvku? Glas koncila, br. 16, 20. travnja 2008., p. 25. Source: www.croatianhistory.net
|  Formated for CROWN by prof.dr. Darko Žubrinić
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