Croatian Pilgrimages to Loreto from the 5000 Documents of the "Croatian Maritime Regesta" in the 18th Century - vol. I

This paper presents a small part of the pilgrimages undertaken by Croats during the 18 th century across the Adriatic Sea to Loreto. The pilgrimages are described as a sui generis phenomenon of all human and religious societies. The history of the Catholic pilgrimage is analyzed through the perspective of common roots with Judaism and Islam, and the subsequent differentiation from other Christian confessions. Relations of the Croats with overseas territories since the 14 th century are described, as well as their settlement in the hinterland of Ancona: Recanati and Loreto. The story of the Shrine of the Our Lady of Loreto is presented, the ties with the Croats settled there, and the foundation of a special seminary for Croats in 1580: the Illyrian College. During the review of the 4,890 documentary sources of volume I of the Croatian Maritime Regesta , a smaller segment of sources was found from the State Archive of Venice on the subject of pilgrimages. These sources list 44 pilgrimages from various locations on the Croatian coast. The types of ships they traveled on, the origin of the passengers, their number, organization in groups, the time of pilgrimage and the time of the year in which they occurred are analyzed. The most numerous pilgrims are from Losinj (Lussino), followed by Cres (Cherso), Dugi Otok (Isola Lunga), Rovinj (Rovigno), Labin (Albona), Korcula (Curzola), Zadar (Zara) and Vis (Lissa). This work is a contribution to the study of the links between the two sides of the Adriatic in the 18th century, which requires further publication and analysis of documentary sources.