Franjo Rački

Franjo Racki died on February 13, 1894, in Zagreb.

The Yugoslavian Academy still stands as Racki’s most obvious monument to the world.

Racki was born in Fuzine, near Rijeka on November 25, 1828.

He went on to attend school at Senj and Varazdin, where he graduated with a degree in theology. While in Senj he was ordained as a Catholic priest by the bishop Ozegovic in 1852. Three years later he received his PhD in theology in Vienna.

Racki began his career as a teacher and as a historian in Senj. In his his first step as an historian, he organized the research of Glagolitic documents on the islands of Kvarner. This research led to his first major work, known in English as ‘The Age and Activities of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles among the Slavs’. The significance of this first piece should be measured against what was to follow - Racki’s determination to unearth both specifically Croatian and universally Slav history.

He moved to Rome in 1857 as required by his position as a priest, and while there he worked at the Croatian Institute of St. Jerome for three years. More importantly, he investigated Roman archives for documents on Croatian history, which enabled him to further the Croatian National revival movement that was going on at that time.

Racki was a key founder of the Yugoslavian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Established in 1861, the academy was created, as its benefactor, Josip Juraj Strossmayer, declared, to “bring together the best minds [...] and find a way in which books in the national languages could be produced in the Slavic South.” With Racki as its first Chairman, the academy’s priorities for the next several decades were established during its nascence - emphasis on Yugoslavian social and cultural identities at the academy can be attributed to Racki’s guidance.

The same year that the academy was founded, Racki also became a member of the Croatian Parliament as the church representative of Senj. From this vantage point he was able to pursue his goals in bringing government and public attention to nationalism in the Balkans and pan-Slavic potentialities. He promoted the merger of Dalmatia with Croatia, wrote discussions on the Croatian nature of Srijem and Rijek, and analyzed the relationship between Croatia and Hungary (fighting against Hungarian expansionism).

His partnership with the bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer grew during this time, as both continued to promote cultural and political unity among the South Slavs, and champion the idea of Yugoslavia.