St. Stephen under the Pines in Split

The abbey of St. Stephen is located on the Sustipan peninsula near the city walls of Split. It cannot be determined with certainty when it was founded. According to some historians, the abbey existed as early as the ninth century or the tenth at the latest, but everyone agrees that it was definitely before 1020, when this abbey was first mentioned in the donation charter of the deacon of Split called Petar. He endowed the monastery and retired to it, becoming a monk. The abbot and all the monks of St. Stephen enjoyed a great reputation. This is evidenced by numerous donations from dignitaries, as well as common people. In 1078, the last Croatian king from the Trpimirović family, Stjepan II, retired to the monastery and spent the rest of his life among the monks in prayer. On that occasion, he donated property to the Sustipan Abbey in the presence of the Croatian king Zvonimir and the Split archbishop Lovre. It cannot be determined with certainty until when the Benedictines stayed in this monastery.

It is known that the last abbot who was a monk was called Deodat, and he managed the abbey until 1442. After that, the goods of the Sustipan abbey were assigned to the commendam until 1699, when Pope Innocent XII, together with the goods of the Trogir abbey of St. John, assigned it to the Split seminary. Even then, the monastery building was in a dilapidated state. According to the construction method and proportions, the old monastery church corresponded to the type of early Christian basilicas which were built in the 6th century. It was a three-nave basilica that ended with a semi-circular apse and narthex. The facade of the basilica was divided by a series of columns. Split archbishops Lovre Zane, as commandator, and Stjepan Cosmi, as manager of the seminary, tried to preserve and at least partially restore the monastery buildings and the church.

When the city authorities decided to open a city cemetery on Sustipan at the beginning of the 19th century, most of the monastery complexes were demolished and destroyed. Today’s church of St. Stephen was built by the management of the Split seminary in 1814, in the vestibule of the former abbey.
After the Second World War, the authorities decided to completely remove the Sustipan cemetery. This act resulted in great human and cultural loss. Also, a part of the memory of the city of Split was irretrievably destroyed. Today, there is a memorial park on Sustipan, and the Sustipan cliffs offer a wonderful view of the Dalmatian islands on one side, and the old city centre of Split on the other.

IVAN BODROZIC AND IVAN BALTA