Church of St. John of Capistrano
Today we visited our 4th country as we cruised and explored. Christiane and I had visited other parts of Croatia the last time we visited the Balkans and I have always thought it is the most beautiful country in Europe. Not just the Balkans, but the most beautiful country in all of Europe. Today we saw only a small part of the country, but it was a part we had not seen before so that was good.
Our guide today was the perky and enthusiastic Marda and it was a joy to spend the day with her. We started in the village of Ilok, which is a tiny village whose history goes back to the 3rd century when it was under Roman domination.
This was a wall still standing in the town, built by the Romans in the 3rd century.
The village had many small and ancient buildings that I would have loved to explore and photograph. Sadly, that was not to be. I was only able to take a few photos from the shore where our boat was tied up. The problem with tours is that I can’t go where I want to go. I have a leader and have to follow the leader or risk getting lost or abandoned. Usually, I am quite content with the places selected by the tour host. Today was not one of those days. I tried to hide my disappointment and take it like a man.
That does not mean what we saw was uninteresting. It was interesting, but I would have liked to explore this tiny village. With hindsight, I could have done that and rejoined the group when they got back. My hindsight is always perfect. Unlike my foresight.
Our coach driver first took us to a drive-through of interesting little farmhouse where a lot of weddings were held. It was high on a hill top and people loved the view from there. The weddings were marathon affairs. They lasted all day and all night. Usually, they start at about 9 in the morning and ended the next morning. Many people are usually invited. As a rule they have, about 400-750 people in attendance.
At our first stop, we got out of the coach and visited the lovely Church of St. John of Capistrano. St. John of Capistrano, for whom the church was named, was a 15th-century Franciscan friar, lawyer, and preacher, known as the “Soldier Saint” for his vital role in leading an army to relieve the Siege of Belgrade by the Turks. Like so many others in the Balkans, he and the people of the area took great pride in their roles in the defense of Christian Europe. Serbians and Croatian often are proud of their history as defenders of European civilization and the true Christian church against the hordes from the Turkish empire. Notice though that he was a lawyer and preacher. How is that possible? It seems like an unholy combination.
John of Capistrano was born in 1386 during what has been called “a turbulent time in history.” Really, one must look hard to find times in European history that were not turbulent. But they might have a legitimate claim to the word. First, one-third of the people and nearly 40 percent of the clergy had been wiped out by the bubonic plague. There was also a Schism in the Catholic Church as 3 different men claimed to be the Pope at one time! England and France were at war, but times were actually rare when they were not at war. Added to that, the city states of Italy were constantly warring against each other. I guess “turbulent” is a fair description of the times.
John was a very talented man who really had earned the title of Renaissance man. He became governor of Perugia at the age of 26. At the battle with the people of Malatesta he decided to change his life so at the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan order as a novitiate. He was ordained as a priest 4 years later. His preaching was so popular that it attracted large throngs of people even though most people were apathetic about religion. He and his 12 fellow Franciscan brethren were received by the countries of central Europe as ‘angels of God’. Together, they were instrumental in reviving what looked like a dying faith.
Perhaps his greatest achievement occurred after the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453. He was commissioned to rescue the city of Belgrade and actually Europe from the devastation of takeover by an alien religion. Why would they commission a lawyer who was also a priest? But he was a good choice for he successively led an army of mainly Hungarians and won a victory against overwhelming odds leading to the siege of Belgrade being lifted. Sadly, he caught an infection (the plague) in the fighting and died on October 23 1456 in the town of what is now called Ilok where we were. Naturally, his grave became a site of pilgrimage and it is credited with nearly 500 miracles in the first 70 years.
The church as built in the 14th century and has survived numerous wars including the most recent war for the Independence of Croatia about 30 years ago. This was one of the rare churches in the area that survived that stupid conflagration. Over the centuries the Christians destroyed the mosques and the Turks destroyed the churches. We could call it “mutually assured destruction.” Or perhaps, madly assured destruction would be more apt.
We were able to walk through the wine cellars built in the 15th and 18th centuries, withs massive wine barrels of fine wines. During the most recent war, in the 1990s, time between Serbs and Croats, when the Serbian Army was approaching one diligent man, quickly built a wall to hide the collection of vintage wines, from the marauders. He even went to the trouble of covering the wall with dirt and mould to make it look old. It was sufficient to fool the Serbians who missed out on a real treat.
This part of Croatia is famous for its wines and even though we stopped for a wine testing at 10:30 in the morning, we were prepared to make the big sacrifice and enjoy a glass or two of wine.
The area here is a well-known and respected wine growing region. We were fortunate enough to go to a local establishment for a wine tasting of several local wines. The wines here are so famous that Queen Elizabeth of England came here as a young woman shortly before she got married and loved the wine so much that she bought 11,000 bottles of wine for her wedding. Locals claim that after that she always kept some bottles for herself in her various castles. I can attest to the fact that the wines are good, even though we were not given the best of the wines as she was. After all, peasants should know their place. And we did.