Zadar (modern
Croatia) has been a
Roman Catholic diocese in
Dalmatia since AD 381 and, since 1146, an
archdiocese.
Adrian IV placed the archdiocese of Zara under the jurisdiction of the
Patriarchate of Grado. Its succession of bishops numbers over eighty without noteworthy interruption. Bishop Sabinianus is mentioned in the "Register" of
Gregory the Great. In one of his letters
Pope John VIII names
St. Donatus as patron of
Jadera, Zadar's former name. Archaeologists find in Zadar many traces of
ecclesiastical sculpture with German characteristics dating from the migration of the
Germanic tribes. Zadar was the capital of
Byzantine Dalmatia, but an example of
Carolingian architecture is also found there, indicating that Zadar may once have belonged to the
Franks and possibly explaining a visit of Bishop Donatus to
Charlemagne in
Dietenhofen. Since Zadar belonged to
Venice, the bishops of
Grado had exercised patriarchal jurisdiction over it. In 1276 Patriarch Ægidius summoned Archbishop John with his suffragans to the
Council of Grado where they were, however, represented by deputies. Archbishop Nicholas III of Zadar was present at the synod convened by Cardinal Guido of Santa Cecilia at
Padua in 1350. Twenty constitutions were published, chiefly against the civil life of the clergy and the power of the laity as used against the clergy and church property. Worthy of high respect was
Ægidius of Viterbo who governed the archdiocese for two years. In the first session of the
Fifth Lateran Council he said: "
Homines per sacra immutari fas est non sacra perhomines" ("Man must be changed by what is holy, not what is holy by man"). He also addressed the following words to the warlike
Julius II, who sought to increase the possessions of the Church: Archbishop Godeassi attended the Synod of Vienna in 1849. Archbishop Pietro Doimo Maupas attended the
First Vatican Council. ==Bishops==