Ivan Oreskovic, Ivo, as we all called him, was born in 1954 in Čovići near Otočac in Lika, and died in 2020 in Drenova, where he was buried in the Old cemetery of Drenova. In 1980, with his wife Zdenko, he moved to Drenovo, where he bought land for the construction of a house on Mugarić, and lived with his family on Orešje and in Brdina Street until the construction. Having built the ground floor of the house with the help of several friends, the Orešković family has also moved since 1990; wife Zdenka, daughter Sanja, son Tomislav and Ivo live at Mugarićka 6.
He worked in the factory "Rikard Benčić" as a turner, and by the way studied extraordinarily at the Faculty of Education in Rijeka and in 1983 acquired the title of professor of industrial pedagogy.
Founding of DVD Drenova
In 1985, an initial committee of 11 members, including Ivo, started the initiative and on 16 November of the same year, at the founding assembly held in the Cultural Centre in Lokva, they founded the Drenova Volunteer Fire Brigade - DVD Drenova, of which Ivo was later president.
Also, with two other like-minded people, he founded the Drenova Society of Voluntary Blood Donors and became a donor himself.
When the idea of founding a choir on Drenova was born, as the president of the time, he stated that the Statute of DVD Drenova enabled the functioning of cultural sections, and so his great merit began with the work of the Mixed Choir DVD Drenova, which at that time also had exercises in the DVD space. The newly founded choir also had its first official performance at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of DVD on November 19, 1985, held at the Fran Franković Elementary School.
Celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of DVD Drenova 19. 11/2005 Ivo at the table, right
Founder of the music quintet “Rotirka band“ who, with his music, entertained many gatherings of Drenova firefighters, played often for his “goose”, and I will never forget when, for the celebration of St. George’s Day, on 21 April 2012, together with the Drenova singing choir, they performed in front of a crowded auditorium in the Dom na Lokva.
"Vesele rotirke" 21.4.2012. in Dom na Lokva. Ivo the first right
Tambours that our museum has in its display, apparently dating back to the age after 1. of the World War. We know that with the founding of the Drenova Pučka Reading Room in 1908, the Drenovčan tamburitza choir was founded, whose members played on their own instruments. Dušan Štefan He saved the tambourines and handed them over after a few years. Ivo Oreskovic who was then the president of the local community of Drenova. Ivo kept them for years in the boiler room of the Local Committee, to give them to our museum immediately after its founding.
Short biography
Pok. Ivan Oreskovic was employed in the City of Rijeka from January 1994 until the end of 2019 when he retired. He worked in the Department of City Self-Government and Administration, the Department of the City Administration for the Utilities System and in the Department of the City Administration for Asset Management in the following jobs:
Referent for local self-government from 1.1.1994. to 31.3.1994.
City Revenue Inspector from 1.4.1994 to 31.7.1996
Leading associate for the control of the use of living space from 1.8.1996. to 30.11.1997.
Independent associate main municipal guard from 1.12.1997. to 3.2.2019.
Senior expert associate 1 – scout since 4.2.2019 31/12/2019
Secretary of the Local Communities of the Municipality of Rijeka
President of the Trade Union from 2015 until his retirement in 2019.
At the end of the conversation with Zdenko and Sanja, I was deeply touched by his daughter's statement:
When I think of my late father, the first thing I feel is pride and gratitude. Then comes love and of course sadness, which the imminent death took prematurely.
Sergio Turconi, one of the most reliable and respectable names that the Italian community of Rijeka could boast in the field of literary criticism, was born in Caronno Petrusella near the town of Varese in 1928, and died on Drena in 2019. He arrived in Rijeka in the second half of 1946 to participate in the construction of socialism in society with Alessandro Damiani i Giacomo Scottie. All three came from Italy, at short intervals from each other and from different regions, and all three started working in EDIT publications, starting with “La Voce del Popolo“, where Turconi was the first editor, and later other publications. Turconi has always been involved in the cultural sector mainly as a literary and historical critic of literature.
La Battana Quarterly Promoter for Culture
He should also be remembered as a promoter, together with Luciano Giuricino, the two-week ‘Via Giovanili’ and the three-month period for culture ’La Battana“, of which he was editor-in-chief from 1964 to 1989, together with Eros Sequi and Lucifer Martini. He remained attached to the Italian Community even when he left Rijeka for Belgrade at the beginning of the 1960s, where he was a correspondent ’La Voce’ and where he graduated and obtained his doctorate with the dissertation “Italian Neorealist Poetry” (1970). Later, he was a lecturer at the Department of Italian Studies at the Faculty of Philology of the University in the capital of Yugoslavia, in that position until his retirement in 1997. For many years he travelled between Belgrade and Istria, making a valuable contribution to the creation of new pages of literature by Italians of these countries. In 2014, he returned from Belgrade to Rijeka on Drenovo, where he spent the last years of his life.
For decades he was engaged with “La Battana” in the organization of conferences of writers at the international level and during that time worked on the survival and growth of literature in the ranks of the Italian community of Istria and Kvarner. He was, along with Giacomo Scotti, the last survivor of the second generation of our writers. After Ramous, Sequi and Martini, three of Italian descent, Turconi was the first in the three that also included Damiani and Scotty.
Commitment to the affirmation of Italian literature (CNI)
There is no periodic publication of EDIT, from daily newspapers to journals that have entered its history, on whose pages Turconi's texts do not meet. We should not forget its important role at the international conferences of critics and historians of literature for the affirmation of literary creativity of the CNI.
Turconi has always preferred literary criticism and essayism over his artistic work. His main researches are the study of neorealist cinema (‘Neorealism’, Nolit, Belgrade, 1961) and literary criticism entitled ‘Italian neorealist poetry’ (Mursia, Milan, 1977). Only a few times he devoted literature to personal writings. Among his essays, it is worth noting the “Literature of Italians in Yugoslavia and its Emigrants”, in the “Literatures of Emigration” (prepared by Jean-Jacques Marchand, Issues of the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation, Turin, 1991). In this text, Sergio Turconi reaffirmed the fundamental historical role of the first generation of compatriot writers, passed on to those of the new generation.
Vilim Štefan was born on Drenova in 1920 and died in 2010. He is certainly on the list of our fellow citizens who are important for our Drenova, so we will remember him with the help of our archive and the conversation that was conducted with William a year before he left us, and was published in our Drenovski list.
The interview was conducted by Christian Grailach and was originally published in the Drenovski list no.16, from April 2009.
Writing in our journal about Drenova’s past, I often cited the book as a source of information “Drenova – education and historical development“ (Rijeka, 1987), which was published on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the Drenovska school and in which Vilim Štefan, my current interlocutor, wrote several articles.
These stories about Drenova's past remained to this day almost the only written testimony about the customs, cultural events and struggle of the Drenova people for the preservation of national identity in the times of imposed Hungarian, Italian and fascist rulers. And that's why I think the statement I made in the title is not exaggerated.
Mr. Štefan, who welcomed me in his house on Gornja Drenova, was introduced by Alberto Mihich, who also, in his own way of painting, preserves Drenova's past, so I had the great pleasure of being in company and talking to two, as I would call it, chroniclers of Drenova.
Mr. Štefan, for a start, tell me something about yourself, introduce yourself to our readers.
I was born on May 12, 1920, in this same house. I spent my childhood not so hard, and I can't even say it was easy. In fact, life was hard at the time, and my family was just like everyone else.
I started elementary school at Donja Drenova, which, as we know, in 1924 by the Treaty of Rome, together with Rijeka, belonged to Italy. When the Tunić school in Gornja Drenova was built in 1930, I continued my primary education in the Croatian language in our new Croatian school. From that time I gladly remember teacher Ribarić who, as well-read, cultured and extremely musically wrestled, passed on knowledge to us young Drenovci. After elementary school, I attended and completed 4 grades of Gymnasium in Sušak.
The political and cultural life of Drenova at that time was marked by the work of the Public Reading Room Drenova, in whose work I myself became involved, so at the end of the thirties I was also the secretary of the Reading Room.
I remember from that time Ivan Matetić Ronjgov who came to our house since we are a distant family and who wrote folk songs on the field. This is how he came to listen to Ivan Petrović - Rapinić, a well-known Drenov musician on sopele.
The previously mentioned violent division of Drenova greatly affected life. Many residents of Gornja Drenova were employed in Rijeka's companies, such as in the Tobacco Factory (Palt). As Rijeka was in the then Italian state, these employees were put before the decision to, if they want to keep their jobs and livelihoods, opt for
Italian affiliation (so-called citadinanza) or for the loss of a job that was difficult to find even at that time. Even today, I vividly remember my barba Stanko, who also worked in Rijeka and who was pressed by the decision to opt for Italian citizenship or lose his job crying, saying: ‘Hrvatska mat me j’ gave birth, and moran da san Italian’. And the nona said: "Enroll Stanko, ter you will remain vavek what you are vavek bil - Croat".
And then an even harder time came – the Second World War started!
That's right, war was the hardest and also the most active part of my life. I can say a little good about the war in which I ignored one ear when we were lying in the snow in Lika for fifteen days. The war took my brother Milivoj who died at the age of 18. I was not a hero, but I did not run away from the obligations and difficulties of war and I am proud of my contribution to freedom. After the war, I worked on Brioni as a manager and met Tito often. When I lost my job at Brioni, I got a job at Cleanliness in Rijeka as a worker and gradually progressed to the post of director of Parks and Plantations.
In the book “Drenova – Education and Historical Development”, you participated with your several contributions, which make up almost half of the book. How did you get so much data from Drenova's past?
Even as a student and later as a young man, I often sat next to the elderly, grandparents, father, mother and listened to their memories of the past. Some things I wrote down, some things I remembered. As I was interested in the past of our region, the initiative to publish the aforementioned book was very welcome. It was a unique opportunity to publish my writings and memories and thus enable younger people to get acquainted with the customs and turbulent days of the history of Drenova.
How familiar are you with today's events on Drenova?
Given my age, I'm not as interested as I used to be. I must say that Drenova has always been neglected and somewhat forgotten by both the media and politicians. In recent years, I have heard and I see that a lot has been started on which I have to congratulate.
Do you read Drenovski list? What do you think of him?
I read it regularly and I like it. I like the fact that there is no politics and that it is focused on life topics. I would especially like to commend the fact that the list can find out what is being launched and what is planned for Drenova's progress. I'm also happy to read stories from Drenova's past. All praise to the initiative to launch the newspaper and the people who are working on its realization.
One of the people who has indebted Drenova over the past fifty years has been Fr. Grabriel Bratin. Born in 1931 in Otlica near Ajdovščina, Slovenia, he arrived at the Rijeka Seminary in 1949, ordained a priest in 1954, serving in our parish since 1969. On October 23, 2004, he celebrated his celebration of gold medals (50 years of priesthood ), and on August 30, 2009, he was more than deservedly retired and left the parish to the management of the new administrator. His many merits are for the common good of our parish; taking care of all church buildings, upgrading the church and building a pastoral center, the chapel of All Saints (in the new cemetery) and on Veli Vrh. Favorite with the locals, always affordable, quiet and unobtrusive. A true priest, a spiritual director to many people and always at the service of the Church and the people. On 25 November 2020, he passed away and returned to the Father, in 89 Years of Life i 66 Years of Priesthood.
Over the years, we have had excellent cooperation and a large part of the digital archive of our Regional Museum Drenove contains documents (numerous rarities) that Gabriel gave us to store and digitize, and thus save from oblivion.
Damir Medved, President of the Association without Borders
Over the years, we have met with him several times in our Drenovski list. These conversations and conversations paint him beautifully. Let's remember our Gabriel.
From an interview with Larissa Smokvina for “Drenovski list” No. 4, July 2006.
Almost 37 years ago, a man came to Drenovo, known to both children and adults, believers and non-believers, natives and settlers. And I'm sure, all those with whom he spoke mildly at least once, felt his message within themselves.
Monsignor Gabriel Bratina, our first permanent pastor, respected among fellow priests, respected among the faithful. As Drenova marks its days and the feast of Carmel in July, and the church of Our Lady of Carmel is an important element of community in the settlement, I spoke with our Reverend.
Gabriel Bratina and Larissa Smokvina
I've been thinking for a long time, how to write a few sentences in the given spatial frames that would describe it. For what can I say about a man who taught me religion, and taught me faith, hope, and love? I can write what I know and how I experience it, and I share it with you readers :
My favorite Slovenian, born in 1931 in Otlica near Ajdovščina, was educated in his homeland and finished high school in Italy. After World War II, he returned to Slovenia and studied theology in Rijeka, intending to remain a priest for the Italian minority. In 1954 he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Rijeka. In his biography are the services of vicars, chaplains and priests in Cvitović, Generalski stol and the economist of Semenište in Rijeka.
He arrived at Drenovo when 485 native people lived there. He says that he “sneaked” into the parish apartment thanks to professor Božo Črnja, who in the Old School, today Cvetkov trg, asked for another apartment from the school authorities, and with the kindness of the Saršon family he still lives in the same place today. The new rectory is under construction, and our Reverend God's shepherd for at least five thousand souls.
Although he has been on Drenova for a long time, his priestly life is still dynamic. With his inexhaustible enthusiasm and good will in the years he has, he also surprised the workers who restored the church by helping them as much as he knew and could.
A passionate nature lover, a longtime mountaineer, led and still does the chronicle of our parish, the Blessed Virgin Mary of Carmel. Collecting for years all sorts of stone remains on which human hands worked, he also found a tile embedded in the foundation of the chapel on Drena built in 1628, dedicated to Our Lady of Carmel, and by which our present church, built in 1847, is dedicated to the same Lady.
I remember how small and unsightly she was, but my generation (born in the early 1970s) gladly came to Mass, and later to religious education with Reverend Gabriel. We were a team, and although life has guided us in different directions, even today when we meet, we remember the communion that this great man has instilled in us. Many of us have been baptized, communiond and married, and today he distributes these same sacraments to our children.
Although he should have retired under canon law, the Reverend is still with us, and I want it to be forever. Yes, not much longer, because I can only make sentences about kindness, peace, happiness, understanding, selflessness and the eternally young spirit of our Gabriel, I conclude: God sends us a call through people with whom we share life's destiny, and in the figure of Reverend Gabriel Drenova she got her angel.
Reverend Gabriel never imposed his vocation on anyone, never refused to help anyone, to listen, to give advice... I believe that few priests are like him, in today's, unfortunately, shaken belief of many in the institution of the Church. Maybe I'm just too subjective.
– Everything is still changing and people are somehow distant from each other, but the church is a place where they meet regularly. They met families, children. – says Reverend Gabriel. He has been a priest for more than fifty years, celebrated his golden Mass in October two years ago, and, no matter how difficult it was, he would have chosen the same vocation again – he says.
40 years of msgr. Bratine na Drenova – “Drenovski list” No. 18, October 2009.
After 40 years Serving the faithful of Drenova, August 30th this year, Fr. Gabriel Bratina, for all the people of Drenovci, held a mass of thanksgiving marking the retirement of this humble and self-denying priest and man.
Gratitude for many years of dedicated priestly work was expressed by the youngest, children and their catechists, and the supreme Venerable Mother of the Society of Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sr. Felicita Špehar.
In an interview with Drenovski list
Favorite among young people, especially young people.
On behalf of the faithful Drenova thanked the Reverend Mrs. Mirjana Palada Kmetović with inspired and touching words. Mrs. Mirjana's speech from which we can learn something from the life of the wolf. Gabrijela is transmitted in its entirety:
When they asked me to say a few words on the occasion of the retirement of our pastor Fr. Gabriel Bratine, countless ideas began to swarm in my head, countless situations that I should mention, but, of course, the time for these few words is limited and I should have limited my memories to some of the most memorable moments.
I would like to reiterate the words of our archbishop, who said for our humble and beloved pastor in commemoration of his goldsmithship five years ago that he is living a credible, authentic priestly life, fully committed to Christ, to his brothers and sisters and to the Church.
The path of the spiritual vocation of our pastor began in Rijeka when he came by train to our city and when, enquiring around the city for the path to the seminary, he was sent to the seed store. It didn't shake him, nor did many of the hardships he went through. Even immediately after his ordination in 1954, at that time reluctant to the faith and believers, due to a maliciously interpreted sermon, he spent a month in prison. Several parishes of Lika have passed to our parish: Slunj, Cvitković and Generalski Stol, where he certainly left his mark.
As all the paths of our pastor lead to Rijeka, he returned to Rijeka as an economist of the Seminary.
Exactly 40 years ago, back in 1969, man came to the moon for the first time, and our pastor came to our parish!
At that time she had only 485 souls, so the pastor for a time: From 1971 to 1981, he served next to our parish and in the parish of St. John the Baptist. St. George's on Upper Drenova.
There were not many of us, so he, then young and full of enthusiasm, easily performed parish duties in both parishes. Before his eyes, Drenova changed and grew from a village into a large town. Since then, our parish has grown many times, but it has not outgrown the great heart of our pastor, his dedication and his spirit.
I remember the goodness of our pastor from his youngest days, through his youth until now. In every part of my life, he left his mark: He gave me his first Holy Communion, he was with me at the Holy Confirmation, he brought my husband and I into marriage. Almost every Drenov family had moments of happiness and sadness through which the safe hand of our good parish priest Gabriel Bratina – the great Brother – guided it.
Five years ago, as he celebrated his golden Mass, he who can be a model of good for all of us, in his immense modesty, begged us – sinfully his flock for forgiveness if he offended someone, if he scandalized someone. And we can say without hesitation and with pride that we have a living blessed, a living saint beside us - a hard-working, quiet, peaceful, prudent, devoted and unobtrusive miracle worker who created a miracle of communion with us new Drenovci.
We are happy that our beloved parish priest will stay with us in his retirement days, what will be with us and what will be with our new parish priest Marijan Benković, who we believe is a good student to the great teacher Gabriel and to whom we wish happiness and God's blessing in leading our parish.
I'll use a sports dictionary: Our pastor Gabriel set the bar high! But we are sure that, with the support of our retired pastor and with our support, Marijan can reach that lath.
Dear parish priest, I thank you on behalf of our parish and all the inhabitants of Drenova for your kindness and for everything you have done for each of us and for our entire parish. I thank you on my own behalf, on behalf of all those who are here now with us and on behalf of all those you have encountered during these 55 years of your service, on behalf of all of us to whom you have been a lighthouse, because each of us has received a touch of your kindness, patience and the light of your good soul. On behalf of all, I can say that we hope and want you to spend many more peaceful and beautiful years with us.
Mirjana Palada Kmetović
On the occasion of the retirement of Fr. Gabrijela Bratine we talk about his 55 years the Priestly Life of which 40 spent in the service of the faithful of our parish. (Conversation led by Christian Grailach)
Reverend, how come you decided to retire?
I will try to illustrate this with verses from the 90th Psalm of the Book of the Old Testament:
The sum of our age is seventy years,
if we are strong, and eighty;
And most of them are tormented by nullity:
Because they're going fast and we're flying out of here.
Who shall measure the fierceness of thy wrath, and who shall know thy wrath?
Teach us to count our days, that we may gain a wise heart.
I would like to start this conversation with these Bible verses because they talk about the years of life in which I myself find myself and which teach us how the time comes in life when we must become aware of the transience of time and turn to ourselves and our heart.
For starters, tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in Otlica, a village near Ajdovščina in Slovenia where my parents were born and where I finished elementary school. I attended high school in Italy in Rovigo, Verona and Venice, according to the whirlwind of World War II. When, at the end of the war, the option of opting for Italian citizenship or repatriation was offered, I chose the latter with several colleagues and friends. We returned to our native Slovenia and I still remember the voluntary work actions in the war-torn country.
How did you decide on the priesthood?
There's a little interesting thing about it that I'm going to tell you. As a child, I was an altar boy in our church. On one occasion, a monk came to the village to collect food and clothes for those in need. These monks were called Capuchins. Our Reverend commissioned me to take him from house to house where his hosts gave him gifts. I was impressed by this young monk sacrificing himself for the good of others. This event stuck in my memory and maybe that is exactly what I decided to opt for the study of theology that I started and finished in Rijeka.
Upon graduation, in 1954 your life dedicated to the priesthood began.
So, first in Lika in the parishes of Slunj, Cvitković and Generalski stol, to come to Rijeka and serve as an economist in the Rijeka Seminary. Finally, in 1969, I came as a pastor to the parish of BDM Karmelske on Drenova, where I also received my retirement.
Coming to Drenova, as people would say, my axe fell into honey. From the very beginning, I liked the countryside, and especially the friendly local people. Shortly after arriving at Drenova, I was also a parish priest in the Church of St. George on Gornja Drenova, from 1970 until the arrival of Reverend Berislav Humski, who took over the parish in 1981.
The parishioners know you as, as the locals would say, a great delager. Here, a lot of your personal work is built into the renovated church and the newly built parish court.
I like to work, I am physically happy with the work, especially when I see the result of the work. In addition, I believe that others are best encouraged to work by personal example.
In the construction of a new parsonage and renovation and upgradingChurch of the Wolf. Gabriel has done a lot of personal work.
There is also an anecdote related to your work.
I know what you mean! Even while I was serving on Upper Drena, we repaired the bell tower of the church of St. John the Baptist. George. One worker and I stood high on the scaffolding and beat the worn-out plaster. There is a man passing in the direction of Sarshone, shouting from the road to the worker next to me: “A little judi, you will arivat, tr has a pop soldi to pay you”. The worker didn't know what to say, he's looking at me, he's embarrassed, and this one will say again: “Somewhere you force it, there is a pop soldi”. Now I've had enough of this one, so he shouts: “Trubilo, how can you not see that this is a pop pul mane!?”. You can imagine what it was like for him, he left without saying a word.
Speaking of work, I am unusually pleased that we have succeeded, although not yet fully, in rebuilding and upgrading the church and building the rectory. Yet something visible remains behind me.
Finally, do you have anything to say to the parishioners?
I will repeat the words of the first Drenov teacher and priest Ivan Cvetko, who at his departure said:
If I have offended anyone in my service, if I have wronged anyone, forgive me. And if I have done anyone good, let him do the same to others.
Great jubilee of our Msgr. Gabrijela – “Drenovski list” No. 46, December 2019
On Sunday, November 10, at a solemn mass in the Church of the BDM of Carmel, she was celebrated 65th Anniversary Priesthood of our good Mons. Gabriel Bratine. The sermon was preached by a wolf. Žan Lebović Casalonga, a young priest born in our parish, whose celebrant was pastor for many years. Mons. Gabriel (as all Drenovci know and call him) was ordained on the feast of Christ the King, on November 31, 1954. Along with him, Mons. Ivoslav Linić, and the Holy Order was distributed to them by the then auxiliary Senj-Modruš bishop Josip Pavlišić.
msgr. Gabriel Bratina
The 50th anniversary of the arrival of Mons. Gabriel served his parishioners for 40 years when he retired in August 1969. On this occasion, he wrote in the parish book: My farewell to the faithful of this parish, which has been entrusted to me for 40 years, will be on August 30th. I would like to recommend myself to all with the same words spoken by Pope John Paul II in Trsat: “Pray for me while I am alive and when I am dead”.
INMEMORIAM – “Drenovski list” No. 47, December 2020
That Thursday morning, all of us were found on the Drena River and saddened by the news that on the night of 25 November he passed away and returned to the Father, in 89 Years of Life i 66 Years of Priesthood, Our favorite pastor, Mons. Gabriel Bratin.
Our beloved Gabriel was buried at the Old Cemetery of Drenova, in the parish where he served since 1969. Until his retirement in 2009, he was a parish priest in the parish of Our Lady of Carmel on the Lower Drenos, where even after his retirement he remained to live and work in the monastery, home to the mother of the Society of Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, helping the nuns and parish priests who succeeded him. Everyone respected and loved him, both lay faithful and fellow priests – he was a role model for everyone.He was born on 24 March 1931 in Otlica (Ajdovščina), and was the seventh of nine children of his parents. He was ordained a priest in secret on the feast of Christ the King,
October 31, 1954 in the chapel of the Rijeka Seminary together with Mons. Ivoslav Linić, and they were ordained by Archbishop Mons. Josip Pavlišić. He served in several parishes in Lika and Gorski Kotar from his priestly ordination until his arrival in Donja Drenova in 1969. He was also a prefect, economist and spiritual director at the John Paul II Theological Seminary in Rijeka.
The entire Drenova, which he served for more than 50 years, and many others will wear a wolf. Gabriel in his heart, remembering him for his kindness, as a self-denying man, a humble and simple lover of God and people.
Ivan Cvetko was born in Delnice, from where he was transferred to Rijeka as a young chaplain to the church of the Assumption of Mary.
At the end of 1836, the City Council of Rijeka decided to establish a parish court on Drenova, which was approved by the Diocese, so on May 1, 1837. Ivan Cvetko, until then parish assistant, elected pastor on Drenova . The following year, he built a parish apartment that still serves the same purpose today. In the parish apartment Ivan Cvetko gathered the more advanced children of Drenova and taught them the first literacy.
Worship was then, for the last 10 years, performed in the chapel of All Saints in today's new cemetery, because the chapel of Our Lady of Carmel, built back in 1628 on the area of the old parish apartment, was in ruins.
By the efforts of Ivan Cvetko in civil and ecclesiastical authorities, the construction of a new church was approved in 1847. In the outer dimensions it was built in only 3 months and Holy Masses began to be held there. It was not consecrated until September 24, 1863 to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.
At the time of Ivan Cvetko's arrival on Drenovo, the children attended elementary school that was in the building of today's Faculty of Pedagogy. Ivan Cvetko advocated and managed to get permission to build an elementary school building on Drenova. Thus, in 1852, the construction of the first, western part was completed the People's School It consisted of a classroom and a teacher's apartment. The school was attended by 40 to 50 students.
When the third cholera epidemic appeared in Rijeka in 1855, Ivan Cvetko had the task of teaching people hygiene habits in the fight against this vicious disease of those times.
As a pastor, Ivan Cvetko remained on the Drena until 1870, when he gave a farewell speech on July 16, in the today's church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which was built on his merits. "Goodbye, folks!" were the last words he said and left.
He lived another 14 years in the river. He was buried in the oldest Drenova cemetery, and by the construction of a university settlement his mortal remains were moved to today's Old Cemetery in Donja Drenova. For all the merits with which Ivan Cvetko indebted them, the people of Drenovci repaid by giving his name to the central town square.
Ivo Grohovac was born in 1875 in Grohovo. In his native place, he taught school; He served in Pest, then as a trade assistant in Trieste, and finally in Rijeka.
He has published three collections of poems: Rijeka women (Zagreb 1906), Voices from Kvarner (River 1909) and the River and the Rešćina (River 1912). He has worked extensively, among other things, in the Rijeka Messenger (which he did), the Rijeka Newspaper and in the Rijeka New List. The latter is in the section Once and Now under a pseudonym Tik – tak, From July 1913 to March 1914, he published the Chakavian sublist, in many ways an interesting reading that still offers a kind of insight into the social and cultural reality of Rijeka from the beginning of the 20th century.
An ardent fighter for the Croatian national identity of Rijeka and for the need to preserve the local Chakavian speech, his juicy written articles, apart from testifying to the liveliness of Rijeka's social and cultural scene, They are extremely readable even today..
Lecture by dr.sc. Irvin Lukežić, professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka
Fran Franković (Drenova, September 27, 1849 – Drenova, 27 July 1924), Croatian professor, pedagogue, author of the first Croatian beginner.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, in the years of the birth and development of the Croatian school system in Istria, Prof. Fran Franković made an invaluable contribution to this development at that time and at that time. With his work and agility, expertise, excellent knowledge of Croatian and other languages and wider activities outside of school, he became one of the famous teachers of Istria, Rijeka, and especially of the Kastav area. Because of his pedagogical and educational work, he was called the “Father of the Magisterium of Istria” during his lifetime.
Beginner of Prof. Franković
In 1872, he completed the eighth grade and the Maturity Examination in Kr. High School in Rijeka. It should be noted that the same high school was attended by Istrian revivalists Vjekoslav Spinčić, Matko Laginja and Matko Mandić. Fran Franković got acquainted very early with these future representatives of the Croatian national movement in Istria. While they later focused their activities on the political struggle, Fran Franković found himself in education as a well-known practitioner. But their work and struggle for popular rights will affect the political conviction and attitude of Frano Franković.
He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Prague and Vienna.
Upon completion of his studies, Fran Franković took first place in Kr. At the Grand Gymnasium in Rijeka, but soon, probably at the urging of Vjekoslav Spinčić, he started working in the Koper c. c. masculine Teacher's School. After 26 years of working in the Koper school, due to political circumstances the school was moved to Kastav in 1906 and Fran Franković became its manager. At the end of 1909. Fran Franković started to get sick, so Prof. Vladimir Nazor took over the directorate.
In addition to his hard pedagogical work, Fran Franković also managed to write the ‘First Croatian Beginner’, which was published in 1889. The Viennese edition of 1907 has been preserved.
Due to illness, exhaustion and his own desire, he retired in 1910. The great Istrian teacher movement experienced a sad fate. He was getting more and more sick, but also so damaged health was the president of the People's Reading Room in Rijeka (foundation. 1856), for which he was harassed by the occupying authorities. He is the founder and first president of the Public Reading Room Drenova founded in 1908. Rough and frequent house searches during d’Annunzi were the cause of a stroke in 1920. In 1923, he moved from Rijeka to his native Drenovo, where shortly after his death, in the autumn of 1924, in his birth house (Drenova, Tonići 8) the Croatian Pučka škola was opened, which worked there until the construction of a new school building in 1930 in the area called Tunić on Gornja Drenova.
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