TERTIUS ORDO REGULARIS SANCTI FRANCISCI SECRETARIUS GENERALIS

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1 TERTIUS ORDO REGULARIS SANCTI FRANCISCI SECRETARIUS GENERALIS July 29, 2015 Prot. Nº 69/2015 Subject: Death notice of The Most Rev. Fr. Ilija Živković, TOR Province of St. Jerome, Croatia It is with deep regret that we announce the death of our brother FR. ILIJA ŽIVKOVIĆ, TOR On 9 June 2015, after a long and serious illness, Father Ilija Živković died in Zagreb. At the time of his death he was 62 years old, having lived 41years as a religious and 35 years as a priest. Father Ilija Živković belonged to the Province of St. Jerome in Croatia. He was Minister General from 2001 to 2007, Provincial Vicar, and a local minister of the St. Francis of Assisi Friary in Odra (Zagreb) at the time of his death. He was also a full Professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb.

2 Father Ilija was born on 26 May 1954 at Kostrč (Bosnia and Herzegovina), a member of the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tolisa, in the north part of Bosnia, part of the Archdiocese of Sarajevo. He was the son of Catholic Croatian parents, Marijan and Ruža, and the second child, out of six children. He attended elementary school in his native town and in Zadar, and Liceo Classico at the Minor Seminary of the Province in Odra from 1969 to After the novitiate in Zadar in 1974, he professed his first religious vows in Školjić (Preko) and in 1978 his perpetual vows in Odra. After his temporary profession he served in the armed forces of the Communist state of Yugoslavia for 15 months ( ). In 1980, he obtained the university degree in Theology from the Faculty of Theology in Zagreb. That same year he was ordained to the priesthood at the Zagreb Cathedral. The following year ( ), he began his ministerial service at the parish church of St. Francis Xavier in Zagreb. From 1981 to 1984 he studied Spiritual Theology and Franciscan Spirituality at the Atheneum Pontificium Antonianum in Rome. The topic of his dissertation was The historical and spiritual development of St. Francis T.O.R. Rule till Leo X. In 1984 he was sent to Washington, D.C., USA to work in the Croation Commisariate, where he guided the newly raised Croatian Catholic Mission and the Croatian Spiritual and Cultural Center until From 1987 to 1993 he studied Psychology at the Catholic University of America in Washington. In the same University, he obtained the Master s degree in Psychology (1990) and a Ph.D. in Psychology with specialization in Developmental Psychology (1993). He taught for a year at the Neurological Institute (Faculty of Medicine, University of Georgetown in Washington). During the stay in Washington he was speaker, translator and editor at the Voice of America ( ) and after 1990 he was also editor of the morning show in the Croatian language. In the same period he dedicated his efforts to spread the truth about the Croatian Independence War ( ) and about the events related to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also spend endless hours in finding aide for the exiles, refugees and other people affected by war. In the autumn of 1994 he went back to Zagreb, to the friary of Odra and held various positions. He taught General Psychology and Human Developmental Psychology lessons at the Catechist Institute of the Faculty of Theology. For two years he taught at the Theological Institute in Zadar ( and ). From 1999, with a triennial pause, he also conducted lessons at the Centre for Croatian Studies at the University of Zagreb. After his return from Washington (1994) he was also General Secretary of the Croatian Episcopal Conference and in the following year he was nominated head of the Press Office of the Episcopal Conference and Director of the Catholic Agency Information (IKA). He performed these functions until March 1999, when he was nominated Director of the Croatian Catholic Radio where he remained until 2001.

3 In 1997 he was elected member of the Provincial Council and entrusted with the task of initial and permanent formation within the Province. In the Provincial Assembly of 2001 he was elected Local Minister in Odra, but two months later, in the General Chapter in Rome, he was elected Minister General. He carried out this service in the Order with a lot of dedication during his mandate which lasted until He was known spending hours working for the growth of the Order in Asia. After his mandate as Minister General, he came back again to the friary in Odra, where from 2009 he served as Local Minister. In the Provincial Chapter of 2013 he was elected Vicar Provincial and served as the coordinator of the initial formation and specialization studies. At the same time, on behalf of the Province, he was the President of the Governing Council of the St. Francis Home in Odra (house of the elderly). After the return from Rome he gave courses in psychology at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry in Zagreb, at the Social and Business Management School of Zaprešić (Zagreb) and at the newly raised Croatian Catholic University. In 2003, at the Zagreb Faculty of Theology, he was elected lecturer of humanities, in 2009 he became Special Professor and in 2013 he became full professor in the interdisciplinary field of Psychology and Theology. He was member of several Councils and Committees within the European Episcopal Conferences, the Croatian Episcopal Conference, the Croatian Parliament, the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the city of Zagreb, the University of Zagreb and the Faculty of Theology in Zagreb. He received significant recognition for giving increment to university education. The first President of the Republic of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, awarded him a medal for his exceptional contributions to the independence and to the international prestige of the Republic of Croatia. He published essays in the area of Biological Psychology, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Psychology of religion. He published also three books: Assimilation and Identity (1995, together with two authors), Themes and interests of general Psychology (2011) and Fundamental concepts of social psychology (2015). He wrote also three monographs about the destruction of the sacred buildings during the Serbian aggression in Croatia from 1991 to 1995, about the destruction of the catholic sacred buildings during the of Bosnia and Herzegovina war from 1992 to 1995 and about Pope John Paul II's second visit in Croatia in In the morning of June 12, 2015, his body was exposed in the convent chapel in Odra where he has been living for many years and where he recently served as Local Minister. At this time many friars, relatives, the employees of the House of the Elderly, priests from the nearby parishes and many observant faithful from Odra and from neighboring countries were present to bid their farewell. The funeral Mass at the central cemetery of Zagreb was celebrated by the Card. Josip Bozanić, Archbishop of Zagreb, by Very Rev. Fr. Nikola Barun, Provincial Minister, by Very

4 Rev. Fr. Zvonimir Brusač, Provincial Vicar and by the Dr. Tonči Matulić, dean of the Faculty of Theology in Zagreb. At the funeral, in addition to Father Ilija s brothers, sister and relatives, there were the delegate of our General Minister, Very Rev. Fr. Danijel Gornik, General Secretary, many friars from the Province, Very Rev. Br. Mark McBride from the General Curia, many professors, employees and students from the Faculty of Theology and from other institutions where Fr. Ilija had worked. In addition there were six friars minors from the Convent of Tolisa, many priests, religious, faithful from his native parish church, representatives from parish churches, colleagues and acquaintances. The Cardinal during the homily, said: «Thanks be to God for all the good that we have received from Fr. Ilija, for the vitality he brought to us when meeting him. We thank him for his service and the dedication towards the TOR community, the Croatian Episcopal Conference and the Faculty of Theology. We also thank him because through disease and sufferings he learned obedience, deserving the esteem and respect in owning our sufferings in life.» The Provincial Minister stated: «Fr. Ilija was a good, simple, dynamic and extroverted man and friar; he was a priest, a professor, a scientist, a writer, a good friend. He was optimistic, he worked hard and therefore he did a lot in the field of science, in the Province and in the Church». He thanked the doctors and the hospital staff of Pulmonary Disease Division of Zagreb, for their care and attention in the last weeks and all the others Croatian and US Institutions who took good care of him since the summer during treatment of malignant lung tumour. He also particularly thanked the friars from the local community in Odra and the staff of the house of the elderly for the care and support he received during his suffering. The dean, Prof. Dr. Tonči Matulić, presented Fr. Ilija s works conducted in the Faculty of Theology of Zagreb by highlighting his scientific, professional collaboration as a teacher at the other university research establishments and at the professional and executive bodies of several institutions of national and local level. «As a teacher he was very engaged and friendly. His students loved him because above he loved them. In his scientific works he was meticulous, rigorous, determined and innovative: it is proved by his scientific opus». The Dean testified that he continued to work even during his hard time and in doing so he was exemplar until the end. The General Minister, the The Most Rev. Fr. Nicholas Polichnowski, in his speech has pointed out that Fr. Ilija, as Minister General dedicated a great deal of time and energy on the support of our friars and on the growth of the Order in Asia and that and also in his vision he saw as important education and dedication to studies. After the burial, a Memorial Mass was celebrated at St. Francis Xavier in Zagreb (the Provincial headquarter) by the Provincial Minister. It was concelebrated by Fr. Jure Šarčević, president of the Conference of Superiors and Major Superiors in Croatia, the dean Prof. Dr. Matulić, Mons. Enco Rodinis, general secretary of the Episcopal Conference, Dr. Željko Tanjić, dean of the Chatolic Croatian University and approximately sixty priests. The Provincial Minister at the end of his homily said: «The shining example of Fr. Ilija galvanize

5 us to be helpful and to work even more unwaveringly and creatively for the benefit of human beings and society». Eternal rest grant unto him, o Lord, and perpetual light shines on him. Rest in peace with God! We celebrate the Holy Mass for Fr. Ilija Živković, ex Minister General, as prescribed in the General Statute (art. 65). Fraternally, Fr. Danijel Gornik, TOR Secretary General