Printed on 8 1/2" x 11" heavy paper, this GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET/SCRIPT is thought to be the first written language of the Croatian people. The Croats using the Glagolitic alphabet were the only nation in Europe who were given special permission by Pope Innocent IV (in 1248) to use their own language and this script in liturgy. More precisely, this permission had formally been given to the bishop Philip of Senj. However, special care accorded by the Vatican to the Glagolitic liturgy in subsequent centuries (even by publishing several Glagolitic missals in Rome), shows that this privilege applied to all Croatian lands using the Glagolitic liturgy, mostly along the coast. As is well known, the Latin had been the privileged language in religious ceremonies in the Catholic Church until the 2nd Vatican Synod held in 1962-1965, when it was decided to allow vernacular national languages to be used in the Catholic liturgy instead of Latin. It is interesting that even today the Glagolitic liturgy is used in some Croatian churches. In 1252 the Pope Innocent IV allowed Benedictine Glagolitic monks in Omisalj on the largest Croatian island of Krk to use the Croatian Church-Slavonic liturgy and the Glagolitic Script instead of Latin. A very important monument, containing an inscription written in the Croatian Glagolitic alphabet is a stone tablet - Bascanska ploca (Baska Stone Tablet), dating from the end of 11th century, found in the church of St. Lucy near the town of Baska on the island of Krk. It contains about 400 Glagolitic characters (dimensions of the tablet: 2x1 sq.m, 800 kg). Its particular importance lies in the following three words carved in stone: ZVONIMIR, THE CROATIAN KING. You can see them in the third line - Z'v'nimir', kral' hr'vat'sk'y, in the most solemn position on the tablet, perfectly centered. Very few nations in Europe can boast of having such an extensive written monument in their vernacular language (with some elements of Church Slavonic) as early as the 11th century.