Tommaso Raggio () (1531–1599) was a 16th century

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary. Raggio joined Jesuit order in 1557 in Loreto. Raggio was Catholic missionary in Kotor in 1574–75. Raggio was a poliglot who knew six foreign languages, including Croatian. According to Miroslav Vanino, Raggio learned

Croatian language Croatian (; ) is the standard language, standardised Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by Croats. It is the national official language and literary standard of Croatia, o ...

Kotor Kotor (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian language, Italian: ), is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has ...

so he later worked for the benefit of

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

and other Balkan people. Raggio emphasized that Jesuit presence in Kotor is very important because Kotor was very near Serbia while Kotor Bay goes deep into the territory populated with Orthodox people. In 1577 Raggio was one of two Jesuit envoys sent by Pope to

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

patriarch. In 1582 Raggio became a rector of Illyrian College in Loreto. Between 1584 and 1587 Raggio accompanied Tommaso Pelessa at his missionary journeys into Ottoman held territories.: "Tommaso Raggio (1531-1599),.... viaggio in compagnia di Tommaso Pelessa fra il 1584 e il 1587." At the beginning of 1594 Raggio and

Aleksandar Komulović Aleksandar Komulović (1548 – 11 June 1608) was a Catholic priest and diplomat from Venetian Dalmatia (now Croatia). Part of the Counter-Reformation, and an early Pan-Slavist, he notably led a diplomatic mission aimed to forge an anti-Ottoman co ...

, as

apostolic visitor In the Catholic Church, an apostolic visitor (or ''Apostolic Visitator''; Italian: Visitatore apostolico) is a papal representative with a transient mission to perform a canonical visitation of relatively short duration. The visitor is deputed ...

s, began their diplomatic mission aimed to forge an anti-Ottoman coalition in support of the West during the

Long Turkish War The Long Turkish War (, ), Long War (; , ), or Thirteen Years' War was an indecisive land war between the Holy Roman Empire (primarily the Habsburg monarchy) and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, ...

, principally in the Balkans and among the Slavs. In 1595, the two missionaries visited Albania. Prior to their mission in this region, they translated and publicized the first catechism in

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

. During his stay, Raggio handed 500 copies of the work over to the locals. Later in the same year, Raggio left the mission and returned to Italy.

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raggio, Tommaso 1531 births 1599 deaths Diplomats for the Holy See Pan-Slavism 16th-century Italian Jesuits