Metamorfoze Život Girolama Itala Boxicha – Jerka Božića

This paper explores the biography of politician, physician, and writer Girolamo Italo Boxich – Jerko Božić, who was active in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. It attempts to show the variety of his political and national identity metamorphoses and link him to the political events in his surroundings with special emphasis on the Zadar area in the early 20th century. After completing his medical studies in Bologna in 1893, Božić returned to Split and became politically active. In the early 20th century, after marrying Francesca Fanny Perlini, he went to Zadar, then capital of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia. He actively participated in the city’s political life as a member and leader of the radical wing of the Italian Party. In 1911, he became a candidate for the Imperial Council in the Zadar electoral district. He abandoned his previous views during the war and was interned by the Italian occupation authorities after its end. He later went to Zagreb and took up Orthodox Christianity in 1922. Croatising his name and surname, he became a proponent of unitary Yugoslavism. In 1936, he abandoned Orthodox Christianity and became a member of the Old Catholic Church.