DON ANTE AD？IJA – A FORGOTTEN LEADING FIGURE OF STARIGRAD-PAKLENICA

Sa？etak Presented in the paper is the exceptional biography of the parish priest Don Ante Ad？ija (1880-1944), the most significant and most distinguished person of the 20th century from Starigrad- Paklenica, who was unfairly and unjustifiably neglected in the perception of the pastoral, humanitarian, cultural, socio-economic, enlightening and other activities in the parish in the period between the two world wars. Thanks to him, the village from the first half of the 20th century became the second, even to this today, most developed touristic municipality on the stretch from Karlobag to Zadar. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness about such individuals, great figures, to whom by their work their people and the culture to which they belonged are indebted. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part is described his life path, ancestry, schooling and priestly activity until moving into the parish of Starigrad-Paklenica in 1923. In the second part is described his work in the new parish on the religious, cultural-historical, enlightening, health, mountaineering-touristic and economic plan, in order that "in the most abandoned region of the Zadar archdiocese"1 he sets the foundations for the overall improvement. On these principles Starigrad-Paklenica developed into a modern touristic municipality. In the historical context of the first Yugoslavia in the complicated socio-political and economic conditions, which were also reflected in the passive areas of Podgorje, Don Ante Ad？ija did not lose faith in the realisation of his messianic goals. He loved his people, his old Starigrad people and as God’s emissary he used every opportunity and possibility to make their life better. To this end, he developed a collaboration with distinguished personalities from the socio-political, economic and cultural circle of the Littoral and Sava Banovinas (from Rijeka to Split and Zagreb), of distinguished scientists, scientist-mountaineers from Croatia and abroad. A special reference in the paper is made to his research of cultural-historical heritage, the collecting of archaeological material (ancient and Old Croatian sacral monuments), the establishment of a museum in the parish house, and the renovation and maintenance of preserved sacral buildings. As a collaborator with the Museum of Croatian Monuments and a member of the Antiquarian Museum Association in Knin, he participated in the rescuing of Old Croatian heritage from the area of northern Dalmatia in 1941. In the third part, instead of a conclusion, described is how not even the circumstances of