Illyricum

- an extensive region in Europe along the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, north of Epirus and west of Macedonia and Moesia. St. Paul mentions it when he says that he preached the Gospel 'from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum' (Rom 15:19). By the second century after Christ, a Christian church already existed in Illyricum and continued in being even until the ninth century. At present this region belongs partly to the Austrian Empire and partly to European Turkey. Its inhabitants are of mixed race, speak a distinct language, and belong to different confessions. Strictly speaking, only the part belonging to Austria is now called Illyria; the Turkish part is called Albania.