From February 24 to March 1, 2025, project collaborator Jozo Vela Ph.D. (Old Church Slavonic Institute) was in Udine (Italy), where he conducted research on pre-Tridentine liturgical manuscripts in northern Italy.

He visited three institutions. At the Archivio di Stato di Udine, he consulted 39 fragments from the 10th to 15th centuries. At the Archivio della Curia Arcivescovile di Udine, he studied 20 manuscript sources from the 9th to 15th centuries, which are kept in the collections of the Archivio Capitolare and the Biblioteca Archivescovile. On the last day of his stay he visited the Civica Biblioteca Guarneriana in San Daniele del Friuli, where he consulted three manuscripts, one of which (Cod. 187) from 1440 belonged to the Diocese of Poreč, which at the time was part of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.

The aim of the research, which will be continued next year, was to investigate the possible influences of the northern Italian celebration of the sacrament of marriage on marriage rites in the Croatian region, where the Glagolitic liturgy was practiced.

The same northern Italian influences were also sought to be discovered in the liturgical veneration of important medieval female figures such as St. Margaret, St. Martha and St. Catherine, female role models that shaped the image of women in the medieval church and society.

We owe special thanks to Ms. Milena Marčić from the State Archives and Ms. Katja Piazza from the Diocesan Archives in Udine as well as Prof. Angelo Floramo from the Guarneriana for their help in working with the archival materials.

The visit to Udine was also an opportunity to meet with another project collaborator, Acad. Giorgio Ziffer.