Pavle Stamatović


Pavle Stamatović was a Serbian writer, historian, and archpriest. He chaired the delegation of South Slavs at the Prague Slavic Congress, 1848.

Biography

He was born in the town of Jakovo in Srem at the time when the Serbian territory was under Habsburg rule. He finished his primary and secondary education in Jakovo, Sremski Karlovci, and Buda. He studied philosophy and theology at Sremski Karlovci and Pest. In his last year at the Royal University of Pest, he became acquainted with Ljudevit Gaj, who happened to enroll at the same time when he was in his graduating year. In 1832 he became a monk in Pest and later, as a parish priest of the Church of St. Nicholas, Szeged, from 1834 to 1844, he edited and published a Serbian almanac Srbska pčela which had a significant circulation. He was transferred from his parish in Szeged to Novi Sad. There he continued to publish his almanac and joined Matica Srpska. He was elected president of Matica Srpska in 1831 and was a corresponding member of the Society of Serbian Letters from 11 June 1842 ; composed an ode to Slavic unity and brotherhood ; translated from Polish the monumental "Historya prawodawstw slowianskich" by Wacław Maciejowski; and the pioneering work "Prawda ruska" by Ignacy Benedikt Rakowiecki. He translated many Russian, Polish and Czech articles on Slavic affairs. He also wrote a book called Mladyj Serbljin u vsemirnom carstvu, published in Buda in 1834.