Stephen Cosmus

This is part 34 in a series on Daniel Farlati’s Illyricum Sacrum.

Stephan was in the order of the Somaschi fathers. Nicolaus Petricelli wrote a brief history of his life, which Farlati publishes in full.

He was born in 1629 in Venice. He Studied at Murano, Rome and Milan before returning to Venice to teach. He gained Notariary for his teaching ability. Nicolaus calls him “The first in Italy to reconcile the beliefs of Democritus with Christian philosophy¹.”

He was elected Archbishop of Split in 1678 and arrived there in 1682. He was praised for his diligent work. As the Venetians regained terrorities from the Ottomans, Stephen would travel to these areas to evangelize. Farlati adds that he met many Calvinist and Lutheran soldiers from germany and brought them back to Catholicism. His efforts were so successful that he had to appeal for aid from venice, and invited the Capuchins, Dominicans, and Oratians to come to Spalato.

In 1700, he opened a Seminary. Stephen writes in a letter that the building was donated by a certain Dominis Cuppereo, a Canon of the church and the last of his family. Ivan Paštrić donated his books which became the seminary’s library. He appealed to Rome for additional funding and received support from Cardinal Ottoboni (future Pope Alexander VIII).

Nicolaus credits him with bringing Ardelio Della Bella to Split. Ardelio spent the next 30 years in Dalmatia. For 8 of those years, Filippo Riceputi, who collected much of the material for the volumes of Illyricum Sacrum, was his companion. Ardelio went on to publish a Latin-Italian-Croatian dictionary in 1728.