On the 12^th of May 1177 AD, Roman Pope Alexander III (1159-1181), accompanied by his shipping, was sailing from the south of Italy to the north, to Venice, over the Croatian side of Adriatic Sea.

On the accession, he passed through the Pašman Channel. Pope’s galleys had stopped on the island Vrgada and on small islands Ričul and Garmenjak, where in those days were two forts, from where, later, people were moving and settling on Pašman.

 
While they were staying on island Ričul, Pope Alexander III sent his messenger to nearby Zadar to inform the archbishop of Zadar and city’s prior about the day and exact hour of arrival of the honourable guest to Zadar. Island’s guards of Vrgada, Pašman (Pustograd) and Ugljan (St Mihovil, Preko) were announced to people by fire and smoke the arrival of the Pope.

People from Zadar welcomed Pope with great joy and they were all singing songs in Croatian.