Trifun Vasilije Božičković, O.S.B.M. (or Latin: Basilius Bosicskovich, 1719–1785) was the last bishop of the Eparchy of Marča (1759–1777) and the first bishop of the Eparchy of Križevci from the erection in 1777 to his death in 1785.[1]
Life
Vasilije Božičković was born on 11 February 1719 in the village of Batinyan, near Zagreb. He entered in the monastic Order of Saint Basil the Great in 1741, and in the same year he was sent to study in the College of the Propaganda in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1744.[2] When in 1745 he got his doctorate in theology, he could not return in his monastery of Marča (located near Ivanić Grad) because it was taken to the Serbian Orthodox Church, so he was sent in Poland to teach philosophy.[3] In 1752 he was chosen by his Basilian Order as representative of the Order in Rome.
On 17 June 1777, Pope Pius VI, on suggestion of the Habsburg monarchEmpress Maria Theresa, erected the Greek Rite Eparchy of Križevci separating it from Latin Latin Archdiocese of Zagreb and superseding the previous Eparchy of Marča. Božičković, who played a prominent role in the erection of the eparchy, was chosen as first eparch, and so formally appointed on 23 June 1777.[5]
Vasilije Božičković died on 9 May 1785, and he was buried in the church of Saint Mary in Gornji Tkalec.[6]
^ abRitzler, Remigius (1958). Hierarchia catholica Medii aevi sive summorum pontificum, S.R.E. cardinalium, ecclesiarum antistitum series. Vol. 6. Padua. pp. 187, 197. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Welykvj, Athanasius (1955). "Acta S.C. de Propaganda Fide Ecclesiam Catholicam Ucrainae et Bielarusjae Spectantia Vol IV 1740-1769". Analecta OSBM (Series II Sectio III). Rome: 92–93.
^Blazejowsky, Dmytro (1990). Hierarchy of the Kyivan Church (861-1990). Rome. p. 341.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
