Tomislav Ivančić (30 September 1938 – 17 February 2017) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n theologian and academic.

Biography

Ivančić was born in Davor. After the study of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

he was ordained priest of the

Zagreb Archdiocese The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Zagreb (; ) is the central Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Croatia, centered in the capital city Zagreb. It is the metropolitan see of Croatia, and the present archbishop is Dražen Kutleša. It ...

in 1966. After achieving a doctorate at the Papal

Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyola, and included all ...

in Rome, he returned to Zagreb to become professor at the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

. He was head of the Chair of Fundamental Theology, one of the editors of the magazine “ Bogoslovska smotra” (Theogian's Review), member of the editorial boards and associate of many Croatian and foreign theology magazines and member of the Croatian Literary Translators’ Association. Since 1983 he was canon of Zagreb's Cathedral Chapter. The areas of his scientific work are philosophy, theology and literature. The area of his special interest is the research of men's existential-spiritual dimension, in which he was discovering new possibilities and ways of modern evangelisation and the need of developing spiritual medicine, which - next to somatic and psychiatric medicine - is indispensable in the holistic healing of man, and especially in healing spiritual illnesses and addictions. For this purpose he developed the method of hagiotherapy and founded the Centre for Spiritual Help in 1990 in Zagreb, which he was the head of. Apart from working at the Faculty, since 1971 Tomislav was also a religious teacher for students in Zagreb, the initiator of the prayer movement in the Church in Croatia, founder of the religious community “Prayer and Word” (Zajednica “Molitva i Riječ”) and the “Centre for a Better World”, as well as lecturer at numerous seminars for the spiritual renewal in Croatia and abroad. In the last decade he has been training persons to work in centres for spiritual help and hold seminars for the apostolate of evangelisation in Croatia and abroad. His scientific and expert articles are published in Croatian and foreign magazines. He wrote more than 50 books, of which almost the half was translated into foreign languages, whereas some have been published only in foreign languages. His book “Follow Me” (Pođi za mnom) was translated in 12 languages. He was editor-in-chief of the magazine “Steps” (Koraci), and then “New Steps” (Novi koraci), as well as founder of the magazine “Hagiotherapy” (Hagioterapija). From 1998 until 2001 he was dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Zagreb. In September 2001 he was elected rector of the University of Zagreb, but he resigned in December 2001, due to illness. On 9 February 2004

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

designated him member of the

International Theological Commission The International Theological Commission (ITC) is a body of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church; it advises the magisterium of the church, particularly the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), a dicastery of the Roman Curia. Its m ...

, presided over by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, after Pope Benedict XVI. Ivančić was the author and host of a very popular Catholic radio program “Lord, teach us to pray” which is broadcast during the academic year. He died in

on 17 February 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivancic, Tomislav 1938 births 2017 deaths Croatian Roman Catholic theologians 20th-century Croatian writers International Theological Commission 20th-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Croatian Roman Catholic priests