Šimun Kožičić Benja

Who was Šimun Kožičić Benja?

Šimun Kožičić Benja was a Croatian nobleman, the bishop of Modruš and the founder of the Glagolitic printing house in Rijeka.

He was born into the prominent Benja-Kožičić family. His mother was Venetian from the Contarini household. While his parents wanted him to become a soldier he decided to enter the priesthood. After his education in Zadar and Rome, he became a canon and the prefect of the Church of St. John near the port in Zadar.

Pope Julius II named him bishop of Modruš in 1509 in a time of uncertainty in Croatia after the Croatian loss to the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Krbava Field of 1493.

Kožičić wrote the well-known work Psaltir which was a small prayerbook which contained some basic Christian prayers, as well as some psalms and other songs for prayer and for use in mass. These kinds of booklets were the basics which aspiring priests and other believers used to learn to read. On the first page of Kožičić's Psaltir, at the very top, was written a primer which contained all the Croatian letters written in Glagolitic script. After this came the Our Father, Hail Mary and the start of the Apostles Creed.