Career
In 1551, after receiving basic education in Dubrovnik, he moved to Ottoman Turkey and spent 24 years working as a merchant. He understood the importance of the Slavic language understandable all over the Balkans for easier conversion of the schismatic population of Ottoman Empire. He requested establishment of a seminary in Dubrovnik in which the Catholic religion would be taught in the Shtokavian dialect.
His observations and requests were the basis for the first Slavic language grammar published by Bartol Kašić in Rome in 1604 and for the modern-day Croatian language standard.
Temperica was born in December 1534 in Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa. In his youth he received some humanist education.
In 1551 he moved to Ottoman Turkey and spent next 24 years working as merchant and earning substantial wealth. In 1575 Temperica returned to Dubrovnik, where he met two notable jesuits, Emericus de Bona and Julius Mancinellus.
In 1582 Temperica wrote a report to general Claudio Acquaviva in which he emphasized the importance of the Slavic language understandable all over the Balkans.
Temperica believed that Serbian language spoken in Bosnia is the purest and most beautiful version of the Serbian language. The Catholic Reformists believed that it was necessary to determine what would be the most understandable language version on the territory populated by South Slavs. Temperica reported that the same language was spoken on the territory between Slovenia and Bulgaria.
With his advices and activities Temperica helped Angelo Rocca to publish his 1591 Bibliotheca apostolica, in which he also published the Serbian alphabet.
Temperica wrote for Rocca the Catholic Lord"s Prayer using the Cyrillic script, which he regularly refer to as "Alphabetum Servianum" and "Litterae Serbianae". Temperica proposed the establishment of the seminary on the territory of the Dubrovnik Diocese, in which the Shtokavian dialect would be used.
Temperica"s ideas and initiatives were the basis of the modern Croatian language standard. The result of Temperica"s report to Acquaviva also includes the first Slavic language grammar published in 1604 in Rome in Latin by Bartol Kašić.
