Zagreb, July 21, 1999 (IKA) – Father Tomislav Janko Šagi-Bunić, Ph.D., died unexpectedly this morning, July 21, at the age of 76, following 51 years in the priesthood,
Tomislav Janko Šagi-Bunić was born in Brodarovac near Varaždin, Croatia, on February 2, 1923. He graduated from the Catholic School of Theology, University of Zagreb, in 1949 and received a doctorate from the same institution in 1952. In 1940, he joined the Capuchin order and was ordained to the priesthood in 1948. From 1955 to 1958, he was the provincial of the Illyrian Capuchin Province in Croatia and Slovenia. From the 1951/52 academic year to his retirement in 1993, he taught at the Catholic School of Theology. He became an assistant professor in 1960, an associate professor in 1965 and in a full professor in 1968 at the same institution. For many years, he was the head of the Cathedra of the History of Christian Literature and Christian Doctrine. During his long teaching career, besides his own subjects – christology, patrology, the history of dogma and introduction to the mystery of Christ and the history of salvation – he also taught several tractates from dogmatic theology, philosophy and methodology. He served as dean from 1969 to 1971, from 1974 to 1978 and from 1990 to 1992. His moral leadership made a great contribution to the Catholic School of Theology during the most trying period of its history, throughout which it maintained its scholarly integrity while successfully pursuing many activities.
As a private theologian to the archbishop of Zagreb, later cardinal, Franjo Šeper, Tomislav Janko Šagi-Bunić participated in the events of the Second Vatican Council in Rome (1962-1965). During this period, he completed significant studies on the great controversies of early Christianity. He was one of the original members of the International Pontifical Theological Commission of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1969), and a member of several bodies of the Holy See and the Croatian (formerly Yugoslav) Conference of Bishops. He was one of the founders of the publishing house Kršćanska sadašnjost – Center for Conciliar Research, Documentation and Information (1968). He was a member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Zagreb and the PEN Club (since 1971).
His bibliography, spanning over fifty years of scientific and publicist activity, includes over six hundred titles on a broad range of topics. Many of his theological articles were published in Glas koncila and Kana, because at the time this was the only way he could reach the general public.
In the world of scholarship, he affirmed himself as a writer of highly significant monographs on the controversialists of the early centuries of Christianity, particularly the Council of Chalcedon (451). He works entitled “Duo perfecta” et “duae naturae” in definitione dogmatica Chalcedonensi (Rome, 1964) and Deus perfectus et homo perfectus (Rome, 1965) as well as others received international recognition. In the Croatian language, he wrote the voluminous works Povijest kršćanske literature od po?etka do sv. Ireneja [The History of Christian Literature from the Beginning to Sv. Irenaeus] (Zagreb, 1976) and Euharistija u Životu Crkve kroz povijest [The Eucharist in the Life of the Church Through History] (Zagreb, 1984). Prof. Tomislav Šagi-Bunić collected his articles on theology, particularly regarding conciliar topics, in three volumes: Ali drugog puta nema [But There is No Other Path] (Zagreb, 1969, 1972 and 1985) and Vrijeme suodgovornosti, I-II [A Time of Shared Responsibility, Vol I. and II] (Zagreb, 1981 and 1982).
Prof. Tomislav Šagi-Bunić was a distinguished theologian who, even during the communist regime, actively participated in important discussions on the relations between church and state, Christianity in marxist and atheistic ideology, ecumenicism in our lands etc. He made significant theological contributions to the questions of the building of Croatian statehood and the role and contribution of the Catholic Church therein. This is evident in his works Crkva i domovina [The Church and the Homeland], (Zagreb, 1970), Catolička Crkva i hrvatski narod [The Catholic Church and the Croatian Nation] (Zagreb, 1983) etc. Father Tomislav Šagi-Bunić distinguished himself as an original and well-informed observer of his times. In the light of theological tenants, he discerned signs of the times in the contemporary, social, cultural, political and religious events, always sensitive to progress toward more profound and all-encompassing humaneness. Father Tomislav Šagi-Bunić left a type of spiritual testament in his two last books: Živjeti Kristovim Duhom Svetim [To Live Through Christ#!s Holy Spirit] and an anthology of his texts on building a civilization of love based upon the Gospel of Matthew on the Final Judgment (Mt 25, 31-46) entitled Prema izgradnji civilizacije ljubavi [Toward the Building of a Civilization of Love]. These books were published in 1998 by Kršćanska sadašnjost on the occasion of his golden jubilee as a priest, the 75th anniversary of his birth, and the 45th anniversary of his professorial career at the Catholic School of Theology in Zagreb. His final written works, consecrated to God the Father, were commentaries on the Lord#!s Prayer published in 1999.
Father Tomislav Janko Šagi-Bunić will be buried on Friday, July 23, at 5:10 p.m. in the Capuchin section of the Zagreb Mirogoj Cemetery. A Requiem Mass will be celebrated following the funeral at the Church of Christ the King at the Mirogoj Cemetery.