MATRICULATION OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT IN ZADAR FROM THE 16TH CENTURY

The paper discusses the historical development of the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament in the Zadar Cathedral, the Church of St. Anastasia, based on the matriculation record kept in the Permanent Exhibition of Church Art in Zadar. The relatively early foundation of this fraternity in Zadar at the beginning of the 16th century, encouraged by the Florentine Franciscan Cherubino Vulastio during the Lenten sermons in 1505, bears witness that the people of Zadar nurtured Eucharistic piety in the wake of growing practice at the level of the universal Church. Its numerous members and reputation of the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament in Zadar testify to its importance not only through the prism of the celebration of the Eucharist but also in terms of social events within the commune in the 16th century. This is evident in the constellation of the administrative structure of the fraternity, which consisted of representatives of the three urban classes: the priestly, the aristocratic, and the civic. The brotherhood spread the spirit of Eucharistic devotion following the provisions of its own chapters and canonical provisions, under the regular supervision of the Venetian state authorities. In the mid 16th century, the Venetians reformed its statutes and adapted them to Venetian legislation, which was common practice in Dalmatian communes. The historical course of the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament in the Cathedral of St. Anastasia in Zadar, from its foundation to its decadence in the 19th century was marked by spiritual and material growth, in harmony with the socio-political and ecclesiastical events in a particular period, whose cause-and-effect relationships can be read in part from documents kept in fraternal registers.