JURAJ DRAGIŠIĆ: DEFENDER OF REFUGEES AND EXILES
JURAJ DRAGIŠIĆ: DEFENDER OF REFUGEES AND EXILES

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I will present the Bosnian Franciscan Juraj Dragišić (1444–1520), a refugee and exile from Bosnia who spent his whole life steadfastly and fearlessly defending other refugees and exiles. He defended Cardinal Bessarion, the Jews settled in Florence, Jewish books (actually, another defender of their books, the renowned German humanist and Hebraist Johannes Reuchlin), Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (a very learned Renaissance philosopher suspected of heresy) and Girolamo Savonarola (a great reformer of the Catholic Church, also accused of heresy). From Dragišić’s support of refugees and exiles, I draw the conclusion that he was a supreme Christian humanist whose entire life was informed by the fundamental evangelical principle formulated by Jesus Christ: “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” (Mt 25, 40) This sentence expresses the pinnacle of Christian humanism. Before concentrating on this point, it is worth presenting Dragišić’s life and works.

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