SPLIT MARK ITS DAY; TOP OFFICIALS, DIGNITARIES, DIPLOMATS ATTEND FESTIVITIES

SPLIT, May 7 (Hina) - Croatia's second largest city, Split, on Friday celebrated the Day of St. Dujam, its patron-saint.#L# Top Croatian state officials -- President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader-- and Roman Catholic dignitaries, archbishops and bishops from Croatia and neighbouring countries and foreign diplomats gathered in Split on Friday morning to attend the jubilee celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Dujam, and festivities marking the Day of Split. Friday's festivities began with a procession in which some 10,000 people walked through the centre of this Adriatic city. Mass, said by personal envoy of the Holy Father, Cardinal Jan Pieter Schotte, with Croatian and Bosnian cardinals, Zagreb Archbishop Josip Bozanic and Sarajevo Archbishop Vinko Puljic, the Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia, Francisco-Javier Lozano, and other dignitaries, pooled some 200,000 people in the city's Riva. Cardinal Schotte, who at the start of the service greeted citizens and President Mesic and PM Sanader, recalled the Pope's visit to Split six years ago. (Hina) ms