Magnum Crimen

Magnum Crimen
Author(s)	Viktor Novak
Country	Yugoslavia
Language	Croatian
Publisher	Nakladni zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb
Publication date	1948
Pages	1,119
Preceded by	Magnum sacerdos

The Magnum Crimen is a book about clericalism in Croatia from the end of 19th century until the end of the Second World War. The book, whose full title is Magnum crimen - pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj (The Great Crime - a half-century of clericalism in Croatia), was written by a former Catholic priest and professor and historian at Belgrade University, Viktor Novak (1889–1977).^[1] The book was first published in Zagreb in 1948.^[2]

Immediately after the book was published, the Vatican Curia placed this book on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum and pronounced anathema against the author.^[3][4]

Background

Novak wrote a trilogy, of which the last part was Magnum crimen (the first two parts were the Magnum tempus^[5] and the Magnum sacerdos^[6]). A Croat by birth, he has been, since 1924, active among the Serbs. He has held the Chair of Croat History, which was founded at the University of Belgrade in order to promote mutual understanding between the two kindred peoples. One of the determining factors in his life was his visit to Rome before 1914 and his research in the Vatican Archives. As a medievalist he came into a close contact with problems of modern religious life and took lively interest in relations between the Vatican and Catholic Croats.

Observing the Roman Catholic Church activities in Yugoslavia for more than fifty years, Novak concluded that this Church replaced the idea of service to God with service to the Roman Curia, i.e., to the government of Roman Pontificate in the role of world leader. As a result of this idea, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Roman Catholic Church identified the Roman Catholicism to the Croatian nationhood which turned most of its priesthood into ardent Ustashe supporters.^[7]

Content

The book describes the activities of the Roman Catholic clergy in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, including their intention and attempts to become above the state, to control the state and eventually the everyday lives of the common people. It has two distinct parts. The first part consists of fifteen chapters, covering the Roman Catholic clericalism from the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the 20th century in Austria-Hungary, then in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The second part, the last four chapters, covers the rise and fall of the Independent State of Croatia, and the active support of the Roman Catholic clergy.

The main doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was that (a) the clergy shall be paid by the state as state officials; (b) the state cannot have any control over the Church; (c) the Church has right to be fully involved in the political life of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia; (d) the Church doctrine/religious education shall be a part of primary and secondary school curricula; and that (e) the Roman Catholic Church curricula in the schools shall be obligatory to all pupils whose at least one parent is a Roman Catholic.^[8]

Josip Juraj Strossmayer's ideas, of which the most important one was that serving God is equal to serving the people,^[9] created close relations between Croats and Serbs by introducing the Old Slavonic language as the liturgical language of the Roman Catholic Church in the Balkans^[10] and were aggressively suppressed by the Roman Catholic clergy in Croatia and Slovenia.

Ante Pavelić's nationalism identified Roman Catholicism with the Croat nation, which was actively supported and interpreted by the clergy.^[11]

The second part of this book focuses on the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, the active support of this state by the Roman Catholic clergy, and their involvement and support in the extermination and/or forceful conversion of the Serbs and extermination of the Jews and the Roma people.

Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac is portrayed in this book as an ardent Roman Catholic crusader who publicly endorsed the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia,^[12] acknowledged the Ustashe as Croatian patriots,^[13] defended it before the Roman Pope ^[14] and was responsible for the racist attitude and behaviour of his clergy.^[15]

Reception

The earliest international surveys of this book are the ones of Russian S. Troicky (as of the 1949 year - see the link) and of Swede O. Neumann.^[16] Neumann stressed three things particular to this book: the role of V. Novak in spreading and defending the idea of Yugoslavism, abundance of the documentation used to support the book content, and that "Some passages have been written by a scholar in a dignified academic gown, in other parts of the book the author assumes the role of public prosecutor." The abridged edition of this book published in 1960 ^[17] is reviewed in the Istorijski glasnik ^[18] and the same review echoed in the Historical abstracts.^[19]

William Bundy gave a short survey of this book, the full text of which is: A Jugoslav historian's lengthy indictment of clericalism in Croatia over the past half-century. The latter half of the book, covering the period of "independent" Croatian state of Ante Pavelić on the basis of a wealth of material from many sources, pays particular attention to the role of Achbishop Stepinac.^[20]

There is a number of authors who left just short notes about this book as: John R. Lampe,^[21] John Neubauer ^[22] and Robin Harris.^[23]

The book has six full editions ^[24] and one abridged.^[17]

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Croatia
• Involvement of Croatian Catholic clergy with the Ustaša regime

References

• Magnum crimen - pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj by Viktor Novak, Nakladni zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb 1948 pdf online copy
• Magnum Crimen - в продолжение темы...

Footnotes

1. ^ Ljetopis Jugoslavenske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti by Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti Zagreb 1979, pages 58, 673-4
2. ^ Schmidt, Amy (1995-07-30). "Tito, Yugoslavia's demise distorted". Washington Times: p. B7. 
3. ^ Magnum crimen: pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj, Volume 2 by Viktor Novak, Svjetlost, 1960 p. 28
   ... a Santo Officio stavio djelo na Index librorum prohibitorum, zacijelo žaleći samo što pisca njegova ne može da izvede na lomaču, da i s njime upriliči jedan monstruozno svečani Auto da fe, Actus fidei, ...
4. ^ Le génocide occulté: état indépendant de Croatie, 1941-1945 by Marco Aurelio Rivelli, Published by L'AGE D'HOMME, 1998 p. 18:
   Loin de se repentir, donc, le Vatican s'est tu. L'auteur d'un ouvrage sur ce massacre, le Dr Viktor Novak, historien yougoslave d'origine croate, a vu son œuvre, Magnum Crimen, publiée à Zagreb en 1948, à l'Index librorum prohibitorum en même temps qu'il était excommunié
5. ^ published as Magnum tempus: ilirizam i katoličko sveštenstvo : ideje i ličnosti, 1830-1849 by Novak, Viktor; Nova knjiga, Belgrade, 1987
6. ^ published as Josip Juraj Strossmayer: apostol Jugoslovenske misli by Novak, Viktor; Savez sokola kraljevine Jugoslavije, Belgrade, 1941
7. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], pages I-XV
8. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], pages 158-159
9. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], page XIV
10. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], page 257: Uvođenje starog slavenskog jezika u bogosluženje katoličkih Hrvata Strossmayer je punih pet decenija smatrao kao jedno od sredstava za zbližavanje zapadne s istočnom crkvom. Napori Strossmayera, koje je on učinio za te ideale u Rimu, Petrogradu, Beogradu i na Cetinju, ogromnih su razmjera
11. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], page 9 Dr. Ivan Šarić: Mi smo Hrvati i katolici i to hoćemo da budemo. Zato se sastadosmo da pred cijelim svijetom izjavimo, od kojega nam mnogi ne daju, da se zovemo Hrvati, a drugi nam hoće da krate da smo katolici.
12. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], page 551: Stepinac in his speech (complete - on pages 150-151) on April 10, 1941. Odazovite se stoga spremno ovom mom pozivu na uzvišeni rad oko čuvanja i unapređenja NDH. Poznavajući muževe koji danas upravljaju sudbinom hrvatskoga naroda mi smo duboko uvjereni, da će naš narod naići na puno razumijevanje i pomoć. Mi vjerujemo i očekujemo, da ce Crkva u uskrsloj Državi Hrvatskoj moći u punoj slobodi naviještati neoborive principe vječne Istine i Pravde.
13. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], page 545 Katolički list" saopćuje, da je tom prigodom nadbiskup izrazio ne samo svoja čestitanja za obnavljanje NDH, nego je istodobno izrazio i svoje žaljenje povodom smrti njegovoga brata Petra Kvaternika, koji je kao ustaški odmentnik poginuo u borbi sa regularnim trupama jugoslovenske vojske u Crikvenici, u trenutku kada je objavljivao u tom mjestu NDH i odcjepljenje od Jugoslavije.
14. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], page 887 U vec spomenutom memorandumu papi Piju XII., nadbiskup Stepinac, zalaže se za tu monstruoznost NDH, i njen upravni aparat kao za "produženu ruku Gestapoa i Ovre", pošto smatra (18. V. 1943), da se radi "o paklenom planu uništenja katolicizma na istočnoj strani Jadrana koju pripremaju neprijatelji Crkve u tim krajevima". Da bi bio što uvjerljiviji, nadbiskup Stepinac je čitav niz ustaških zločina pripisao naprosto partizanima, a zločince svećenike nastojao da odbrani od optužbi koje su doprle do samog Vatikana.
15. ^ Magnum Crimen [1948], page 939. Msgr. Binički in "Razbojnička pećina": Mnogi su sladokusci zamjerali Ocu Domovine (tj. Anti Starčeviću) što je poznatu pasminu (tj. Srbe) nazvao "vlaškim nakotom". Kao da Vlasi nisu ljudi, van živine, koje se kote. Tko dobro luči, dobro uči. Treba dobro razlučitu stare hrvatske Vlahe - pastire od smeća što su ga Turci sa svih strana zgrnuli u ostanke drevne kraljevine Hrvatske.
16. ^ Novak, Magnum Crimen. Pola vijeka klerikalizma u Hrvatskoj by Oscar Neumann in Journal of Central European Affairs, Vol 10. Boulder CO, 1950. pages 63-65
17. ^ ^{a b} Velika optužba (Magnum crimen) by Viktor Novak, Svjetlost Sarajevo 1960 (abridged)
18. ^ Istorijski glasnik, Sarajevo 1960 pages 160-165
19. ^ Historical abstracts, Vol. 9 by Eric H. Boehm, American Bibliographical Center, Santa Barbara, Calif 1964.
20. ^ Foreign Affairs Bibliography by Council on Foreign Relations, by William P. Bundy, Archibald Cary Coolidge, Council on Foreign Relations, Hamilton Fish Armstrong - vol. 57, no. 3 - page 340
21. ^ Ideologies and National Identities; Lampe, John R; p. 79.
22. ^ Neubauer, John (2004). History of the literary cultures of East-Central Europe. John Benjamin Publishing Company. p. 164. ISBN 9027234523. http://books.google.com/books?id=pV6sFB-KuU8C&pg=PA164&dq=%22magnum+crimen%22&lr=&sig=ACfU3U10TR3aU5wnwqd9cPPSlacNQ4G3kQ. Retrieved 2008-06-30. 
23. ^ Harris, Robin. "On Trial Again". Catholic Culture. Trinity Communications. http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=513. Retrieved 2008-07-16. 
24. ^ http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3602287/editions?editionsView=true&referer=di