The Mar？a Monastery – Reliquiae Reliquiarum

Sa？etak The plateau of a hill in Stara Mar？a, not far from Klo？tar Ivani？, was a suitable location for the medieval monastery of the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, as well as an Eastern-Rite monastery and an Orthodox monastery afterwards. No traces of above-ground edifices can be found today, although uneven spots in the terrain’s configuration present until the late 20th century were proof of their existence. According to the research of past monasteries of the now-extinct Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre Order undertaken by Lelja Dobroni？, their house and their church were located in (Stara) Mar？a. A royal decree of King Andrew II issued to the Canons regular of the Holy Sepulchre shows that there was “a house of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Mar？a” as early as 1207. That is the only mention of Mar？a as a manor and monastery (“house”) in historical sources that are known to us. In 1611 several Eastern-Rite Catholics led by Episcope S. Vratanja fled from Ottoman-controlled areas and settled in Mar？a. They established their monastery and Church of St. Michael the Archangel on the ruins of the Catholic monastery. The Bishop of Zagreb P. Domitrovi？ (1611 – 1628) not only granted church land in Mar？a to Episcope S. Vratanja, but also made him the Archimandrite of the monastery. However, Emperor Leopold I granted a royal charter granting significant rights to Patriarch A. Crnojevi？, who led the settlement of many Serbian refugees. Arsenije Crnojevi？ visited Mar？a and requested to take it over based on that decree. The request was denied by the Eastern-Rite episcopes and thus in 1735 the Orthodox monks drove out the Easter-Rite ones, making Mar？a an Orthodox monastery. The Eastern-Rite monks brought an action to restore possession over Mar？a which was successful, which prompted the Orthodox monks to set fire to the monastery in 1739. Piarists took over the abandoned building in mid-18th century at the behest of Queen Maria Theresa with a view of educating children in Bjelovar, a new military city in the vicinity. However, they did not stay in Mar？a, which was in a decrepit state, for long. During the 19th century the buildings of the monastery were obviously dilapidated and started to crumble and disappear. Nothing can be found on that location today, but the approximate appearance of the building can be gleaned from the ground-plans and accounts from old maps and prints