Editing Matthias Flacius (section)

=== Impact and aftermath ===
Flacius' life was eventful in a turbulent epoch. He represents in some sense a move in the direction of the scientific study of [[church history]] in the modern sense and similarly of [[hermeneutics]], though no doubt his impelling motive was not dispassionate but polemical, namely to prove the false premises of [[Roman Catholicism]]. His characteristic formula, ''historia est fundamentum doctrinae'', is better understood now than in his own day.<ref name="Chisholm1911"/>

According to Emil Petru Rațiu, the Moldovan president of the Andrei Glavina Cultural Association of the Istro-Romanians, Flacius could have been an ethnic [[Istro-Romanians|Istro-Romanian]]. He based these claims on the fact that there used to be a notorious Istro-Romanian presence in Labin during the times in which Flacius lived, in the surname of his father ("Vlacich", which could originate from "Vlach" and have been Latinized as "Flacius") and other arguments.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.istrianet.org/istria/illustri/vlacic/04_1019ratiu_eroe-rom.htm|title=Un erou modern|first=Emil Petru|last=Rațiu|newspaper=Adevărul literar și artistic|date=19 October 2004|language=ro}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://revistatransilvania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/13-Emil-Petru-Ratiu-Matthias-Flacius-Illyricus.pdf|title=Matthias Flacius Illyricus|first=Emil Petru|last=Rațiu|journal=Transilvania|volume=4|pages=64–72|year=2009|language=ro}}</ref>