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59-574: The Province of Bosna Srebrena includes the monasteries in: The Franciscans order arrived in Bosnia in the later half of the 13th century, aiming to eradicate the teachings of the Bosnian Church . The first Franciscan vicariate in Bosnia was founded in 1339/40. The province itself is the only institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina which has operated uninterruptedly since the Middle Ages. The Franciscan order

118-579: A "new interpretation of the Bosnian Church", his view is very close to J. Šidak's early theory and that of several other scholars before him. He believes that while there could have been heretical groups alongside of the Bosnian Church, the church itself was inspired by Papal overreach. Some Protestants have attempted to look back on the Bosnian church as their forerunner . Franciscan Province of Herzegovina Franciscan Province of Herzegovina of

177-661: A Bogomil or Cathar church, whilst more recent scholars such as Noel Malcolm and John Fine maintain that no trace of Bogomilism , Catharism , or other dualism can be found in the original documents of the Bosnian Christians. It was not until Pope Nicholas' Bull Prae Cunctis in 1291 that the Franciscan-led Inquisition was imposed on Bosnia. Bogomilism was eradicated in Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire in

236-539: A member of the Bosnian Church himself, had a djed as an advisor at the royal court between 1403 and 1405, and an occasional occurrence of a krstjan elder being a mediator or diplomat. Hval's Codex , written in 1404 in Cyrillic , is one of the most famous manuscripts belonging to the Bosnian Church in which there are some iconographic elements which are not in concordance with the supposed theological doctrine of Christians ( Annunciation , Crucifixion and Ascension ). All

295-664: A mission was sent to convert Bosnia to Rome but failed. On 15 May 1225, Pope Honorius III spurred the Hungarians to undertake the Bosnian Crusade . That expedition, like the previous ones, turned into a defeat, and the Hungarians had to retreat when the Mongols invaded their territories. In 1234, the Catholic Bishop of Bosnia was removed by Pope Gregory IX for allowing supposedly heretical practices. In addition, Gregory called on

354-726: A number of accusations against the Herzegovinian Franciscans in Rome, coming from several directions – other Croatian Franciscan provinces, the Serb refugees, the Italian military and civil authorities, the bishops and the representatives of the Holy See in the NDH. The accusations included their involvement in the violent events during the war, their occupation with worldly affairs, and the disobedience of

413-554: A service at the Church of Saint Anthony in Sarajevo on 15 May 1945 as a gratitude for the Partisan victory. 43°51′05″N 18°24′05″E  /  43.8514°N 18.4013°E  / 43.8514; 18.4013 Bosnian Church The Bosnian Church ( Serbo-Croatian : Crkva bosanska / Црква босанска ) was a schismatic Christian church in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina that

472-414: A weak church organization and poor communications. Medieval Bosnia thus remained a "no-man's land between faiths" rather than a meeting ground between the two Churches, leading to a unique religious history and the emergence of an "independent and somewhat heretical church". Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy predominated in different parts of what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina ; the followers of

531-633: The Archbishop of Ragusa solely for ordination . Although the Papacy already insisted on using Latin as the liturgical language , Bosnian Catholics retained the Church Slavonic language . Vukan , ruler of Dioclea , wrote to Pope Innocent III in 1199 that Kulin , ruler of Bosnia, had become a heretic, along with his wife, sister, other relatives, and 10,000 other Bosnians. The Archbishop of Spalato , vying for control over Bosnia, joined Vukan and accused

590-562: The Bosnian Franciscans Josip Markušić , supported by the Herzegovinian Franciscans' Provincial Mile Leko , established the Good Shepard association of priests, sponsored by UDBA. The Episcopal Conference of Yugoslavia opposed such clerical associations. Čule's deputy, general vicar of the diocese of Mostar-Duvno and Trebinje Mrkan Andrija Majić strongly attacked such state-sponsored clerical associations. Even though

649-659: The Herzegovina Affair . As of 2019, there are 194 friars who are members of the Franciscan Province of Herzegovina, of whom 116 have taken permanent vows and live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 109 serve as priests in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Franciscan Province of Herzegovina has five friaries in Herzegovina and these include friaries in Humac , Konjic , Mostar , Široki Brijeg and Tomislavgrad . The administration of

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708-555: The Republic of Ragusa , and Bosnia's bishop was under the jurisdiction of Ragusa. This was disputed by the Hungarians , who tried to achieve their jurisdiction over Bosnia's bishops, but Bosnia's first Ban Kulin averted that. In order to conduct a crusade against him, the Hungarians turned to Rome, complaining to Pope Innocent III that the Kingdom of Bosnia was a centre of heresy , based on

767-626: The South Slavs , and establishing boundaries between the ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the See of Rome and the See of Constantinople . The East–West Schism then led to the establishment of Catholicism in Croatia and most of Dalmatia , while Eastern Orthodoxy came to prevail in Serbia . Lying in-between, the mountainous Bosnia was nominally under Rome, but Catholicism never became firmly established due to

826-597: The United Nations published a translation of the document in all the official U.N. languages. The ferman was republished by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey for the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman State. Without a regular hierarchy of bishops in place, the diocesan clergy fell into decline and disappeared by the mid-19th century. To support the local church which was functioning without resident bishops,

885-676: The abjuration of Bilino Polje , Kulin succeeded in keeping the Bosnian Diocese under the Ragusan Archdiocese, thus limiting Hungarian influence. The errors abjured by the Bosnians in Bilino Polje seem to have been errors of practice, stemming from ignorance, rather than heretical doctrines. The bid to consolidate Catholic rule in Bosnia in the 12th to 13th centuries proved difficult. The Banate of Bosnia held strict trade relations with

944-654: The 13th century, but survived in Bosnia and Herzegovina until the Ottoman Empire gained control of the region in 1463 . The Bosnian Church coexisted with the Catholic Church (and with the few Bogomil groups) for most of the Late Middle Ages , but no accurate figures exist as to the numbers of adherents of the two churches. Several Bosnian rulers were Krstjani , while others adhered to Catholicism. Stjepan Kotromanić shortly reconciled Bosnia with Rome, while ensuring at

1003-664: The 1980s the Franciscan Province held 40 parishes under the direction of 80 friars. The Holy See imposed restrictions on the Province, imposing a superior instead of allowing normal elections, and forbidding the admission of new candidates. In the 1990s, the cases of seven parishes remained unresolved, and the Holy See brought the leadership of the worldwide Franciscan Order into the process to see that Romanis Pontificibus would be implemented. When visited by Franciscan superiors from Rome, most friars expressed their willingness to comply, and transfers of clergy were decreed in order to carry out

1062-539: The 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman State. The original edict is still kept in the Franciscan Catholic Monastery in Fojnica . In 1971, the United Nations published a translation of the document in all the official U.N. languages. Without a regular hierarchy of bishops in place, the diocesan clergy fell into decline and disappeared by the mid-19th century. To support the local church which

1121-461: The Archbishop of Ragusa of neglecting his suffragan diocese in Bosnia. Emeric, King of Hungary , a supporter of Spalato, also seized this opportunity to try to extend his influence over Bosnia. Further accusations against Kulin, such as harbouring heretics, ensued until 1202. In 1203, Kulin moved to defuse the threat of foreign intervention. A synod was held at his instigation on 6 April. Following

1180-805: The Ascension of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a province of the Catholic religious order of the Order of Friars Minor , commonly known as Franciscans. It was established in 1843 when it seceded from the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena . Its headquarters are in Mostar . The Franciscans were present at the territory of Herzegovina since the 13th century. During the Ottoman rule, they established their exclusive care of

1239-625: The Bosnian Friars do not prevent the persons sent by your Holiness, no one will be able to make sure that they do will not hand them over to the Turks with the usual and unusual slanders. They know how much they can do in the hearts of the Turks, to exploit the money from poor priests." Head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Urbanus Cerri, wrote to Pope Innocent XI in 1676, that

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1298-637: The Bosnian sector believed in following these instructions. Still, the Franciscans of Bosnia and Herzegovina would play a leading role in the slaughter and forced conversions of Serbs with Sarajevo becoming a center of the Catholic conversion campaign. After the war, contrary to their Herzegovinian counterparts , the Bosnian Franciscans held open dialogues with the communists despite them killing 47 of their members. The Franciscan Province of Bosnia organized

1357-444: The Catholic population to support the new regime. Provincial Lujo Radoš was a fierce supporter of the new government and fully cooperated with the government. The relations between Bishop Alojzije Mišić and the Franciscans deteriorated after the establishment of the NDH. Cardinal Eugène Tisserant said to the unofficial representative of the NDH in Rome that the Franciscans in Bosnia and Herzegovina acted "abominably". There were

1416-691: The Catholics under the Ottoman held-territories, thus gaining a number of privileges, acting as a de facto an Ottoman institution. With the restoration of the Church hierarchy after the Austrian-Hungarian occupation in 1881, the Franciscans fiercely opposed the restoration, trying to preserve their privileges and control over the Herzegovinian parishes, a conflict which is not resolved till the present-day, known as

1475-552: The Church authority and the Holy See. The Franciscans of Bosnia and Herzegovina played a leading role in the slaughter and forced conversions of Serbs . After the war, contrary to their Bosnian counterparts , the Hezergovinian Franciscans refused to hold open dialogues with the Communists. While Bishop Petar Čule was behind the bars, the communist authorities prepared a network of cooperant priests. The provincial of

1534-516: The Episcopal Conference of Yugoslavia strongly opposed such clerical associations, the Franciscans refused to bow even to the sharpest threats from the bishops. A 1975 decree by Pope Paul VI , Romanis Pontificibus , ordered that Franciscans withdraw from a majority of the parishes in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno , retaining 30 and leaving 52 to the diocesan clergy. Resistance continued, and in

1593-423: The Franciscans in Bosnia and Herzegovina are "the richest in the whole Order, but also the most licentious, and that they are opposed to the secular clergy in fear for the payment for the maintenance of priests from the parishes with which they maintain their monasteries, and that notwithstanding all the orders from Rome, it would not be possible to implement the secular clergy in Bosnia because Franciscans would cause

1652-599: The Heavens and the Earth and Who feeds all of his creatures, by seven of his Holy Books, Allah's Great Prophet Mohammed and 124.000 former prophets, and by my sword that no one from my citizens will react or behave the opposite of this ferman!" The original edict is still kept in the Franciscan monastery in Fojnica . It is one of the oldest surviving documents on religious freedom. In 1971,

1711-514: The Holy See founded an Apostolic Vicariate for Bosnia in 1735, and assigned Franciscans as apostolic vicars to direct it. The Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena was restructured to correspond to the borders of Ottoman rule in 1757; it split in 1846, when friars from the Kresevo monastery broke off to found the monastery at Siroki Brijeg. A separate Franciscan jurisdiction (a "custody") was established for Herzegovina in 1852. Pope Leo XIII raised it to

1770-585: The Hungarian king to crusade against the heretics in Bosnia. However, Bosnian nobles were able to expel the Hungarians once again. In 1252, Pope Innocent IV decided to put Bosnia's Bishop under the Hungarian Kalocsa jurisdiction. This decision provoked the schism of the Bosnian Christians, who refused to submit to the Hungarians and broke off their relations with Rome. In that way, an autonomous Bosnian Church came into being, in which many scholars later saw

1829-648: The Province is at the Franciscan friary in Mostar. The Province also has three friaries in Croatia – the friary in Badija at the island of Korčula , the friary in Slano and the friary in the capital Zagreb . Herzegovinian Franciscans also serve 29 parishes in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno . Franciscan friars came to the region of Bosnia in 1291 to help oppose the dualistic Bogomil sect, also called Patarenes , and

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1888-481: The borders of my state. No one from my empire notable, viziers , clerks or my maids will break their honour or give any harm to them! No one shall insult, put in danger or attack these lives, properties, and churches of these people! Also, what and those these people have brought from their own countries have the same rights... By declaring this ferman , I swear by a great oath; by the Creator ( Allah ), Who has created

1947-454: The church is mostly known from the writings of outside sources — primarily Catholic ones. The monumental tombstones called stećak that appeared in medieval Bosnia, as well as Croatia , Serbia , and Montenegro , are sometimes identified with the Bosnian Church. Christian missions emanating from Rome and Constantinople started pushing into the Balkans in the 9th century, Christianizing

2006-511: The credibility of the Latin documents in which the Bosnian Church is described as heretical. It is thought today that the Bosnian Church's adherents, who were persecuted both by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, predominantly converted to Islam upon the arrival of the Turkish Ottomans , thus adding to the ethnogenesis of the modern-day Bosniaks . According to Bašić, the Bosnian Church

2065-688: The cross' or 'christians'). Some of the adherents resided in small monasteries, known as hiže ( hiža , 'house'), while others were wanderers, known as gosti ( gost , 'guest'). It is difficult to ascertain how the theology differed from that of the Orthodox and Catholic. The practices were, however, unacceptable to both. The Church was mainly composed of monks in scattered monastic houses. It had no territorial organization and it did not deal with any secular matters other than attending people's burials. It did not involve itself in state issues very much. Notable exceptions were when King Stephen Ostoja of Bosnia ,

2124-681: The decree had not yet been implemented. In 1997, the Hercegovacka Banka was founded "by several private companies and the Franciscan order, which controls the religious shrine in Medjugorje, a major source of income, both from pilgrims and from donations by Croats living abroad." Located in Mostar, the bank has branches in several towns. In 2001, the bank was investigated for possible ties to Bosnian Croat separatists attempting to forge an independent mini-state in Croat areas of Bosnia. Tomislav Pervan, OFM

2183-399: The dioceses of Vrhbosna and Mostar . Resistance to diocesan clergy continued through the following decades, despite papal support for the diocesan bishops. In the 1970s, friars in Herzegovina formed the "Mir i Dobro" association of priests, which encouraged popular support for local autonomy and opposition to diocesan parish takeovers. The Franciscans felt endangered by the restoration of

2242-554: The direct progenitors of the Cathars. The Inquisition reported the existence of a dualist sect in Bosnia in the late 15th century and called them "Bosnian heretics", but this sect was according to some historians most likely not the same as the Bosnian Church. The historian Franjo Rački wrote about this in 1869 based on Latin sources, but the Croatian scholar Dragutin Kniewald in 1949 established

2301-659: The efforts of local bishops to implement secular clergy in Bosnian-Herzegovinian parishes, and even sought help from the Ottomans to push them out of the country. In 1612 and again in 1618, Rome sent Bartol Kašić , a Jesuit from Dubrovnik to report the situation in the lands under the Ottoman rule in Southeast Europe. Kašić wrote the Pope back in 1613, stating that "if your Holiness does not take some effective means so that

2360-445: The former formed a majority in the west, the north, and in the center of Bosnia, while those of the latter were a majority in most of Zachlumia (present-day Herzegovina ) and along Bosnia's eastern border. This changed in the mid-13th century, when the Bosnian Church began eclipsing the Roman. While Bosnia remained nominally Catholic in the High Middle Ages , the Bishop of Bosnia was a local cleric chosen by Bosnians and then sent to

2419-424: The impeccably orthodox theological character of Bosnian Christian writings and claimed the phenomenon can be sufficiently explained by the relative isolation of Bosnian Christianity, which retained many archaic traits predating the East-West Schism in 1054. Conversely, the American historian of the Balkans, John Fine , does not believe in the dualism of the Bosnian Church at all. Though he represents his theory as

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2478-483: The important Bosnian Church books (Nikoljsko evandjelje, Sreckovicevo evandelje, the Manuscript of Hval, the Manuscript of Krstyanin Radosav) are based on Glagolitic Church books. The phenomenon of Bosnian medieval Christians attracted scholars' attention for centuries, but it was not until the latter half of the 19th century that the most important monograph on the subject, "Bogomili i Patareni" (Bogomils and Patarens), 1870, by eminent Croatian historian Franjo Rački ,

2537-441: The non-Catholic " Bosnian Christians ". The first Franciscan vicariate in Bosnia was founded in 1339/40. In the 14th century, when the bishop of Bosnia (Vhrbosna) was forced to move to Djakovo (in modern-day Croatia), and the bishop of Trebinje moved to Dubrovnik, Franciscans took over a leadership role in the church in the region. The Ottoman Empire gained control of Bosnia in 1463 and Herzegovina in 1482. The Franciscan order

2596-405: The opposition from the Turks against the secular clergy". In the 19th century, the Franciscans opposed the efforts of local bishops, Rafael Barišić and Marijan Šunjić , both of whom were Franciscans, to open a seminary for the education of the secular clergy. The so-called Barišić affair lasted for 14 years, between 1832 and 1846, and gained attention in Rome , Istanbul and Vienna . After

2655-551: The plan, but the newly appointed diocesan clergy were met with the physical occupation of churches, threats, and even some violence by occupiers. Several recalcitrant friars were expelled from the Order for disobedience but continued to engage in forbidden ministry. In spite of these limitations, the Franciscan Minister General declared in 1999 that he had implemented the decree, and in 2001 the province conducted its first Provincial Chapter and elections in decades. In contrast, Bishop Ratko Perić of Mostar-Duvno responded in 2002 that

2714-407: The refuge that some Cathars (also known as Bogomils or Patarenes ) had found there. To avert the Hungarian attack, Ban Kulin held a public assembly on 8 April 1203 and affirmed his loyalty to Rome in the presence of an envoy of the Pope, while the faithful abjured their mistakes and committed to following the Catholic doctrine. Yet, in practice this was ignored. After the death of Kulin in 1204,

2773-403: The regime, while some monks like Miroslav Filipović participated in the atrocities themselves. Several key Ustaše officials, like Andrija Artuković were educated at Franciscan parochial schools, mainly in Široki Brijeg . Instructions of the Superiors of the Franciscan order based in Rome issued in the summer of 1941 forbade Franciscan friars to participate in Ustaše activities, and the heads of

2832-408: The regular church hierarchy, however, they showed loyalty to the new regime, represented by the Joint Minister of Finance Béni Kállay . In return, the new government had a full understanding of the interests of the Franciscans and supported them in their dispute with the church hierarchy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by Archbishop of Vrhbosna Josip Stadler . The Franciscans of Herzegovina influenced

2891-427: The retreat of Ottoman rule in 1878, when Herzegovina became part of the empire of Austria-Hungary , Pope Leo XIII took steps to establish dioceses (1881) and appoint local bishops. As part of re-establishing normal church structures, the bishops worked to transfer parishes from the Franciscans to the diocesan clergy, but friars resisted, and in the 1940s, the two Franciscan provinces still held 63 of 79 parishes in

2950-490: The same time the survival of the Bosnian Church. Notwithstanding the incoming Franciscan missionaries, the Bosnian Church survived, although weaker and weaker, until it disappeared after the Ottoman conquest. Outsiders accused the Bosnian Church of links to the Bogomils, a stridently dualist sect of Gnostic Christians heavily influenced by the Manichaean Paulician movement. The Bogomil heretics were at one point mainly centered in Bulgaria and are now known by historians as

3009-480: The status of a province (the Province of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in 1892. With the outbreak of World War II in Yugoslavia and the installation of the Nazi-backed Independent State of Croatia puppet state led by the Ustaše , the Bosnian Franciscans' relationship with the regime became complicated. Some Franciscans, such as Alojzije Mišić and others, opposed the Ustaše's genocide policies. Others such as Archbishop Šarić enthusiastically supported

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3068-710: Was allowed by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror in the Ottoman Empire in 1463, after the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Friar Anđeo Zvizdović of the Monastery in Fojnica received the oath on May 28 of 1463 at the camp of Milodraž. The Ahdname of Milodraž stated: "I, the Sultan Khan the Conqueror, hereby declare the whole world that, the Bosnian Franciscans granted with this sultanate ferman are under my protection. And I command that: No one shall disturb or give harm to these people and their churches! They shall live in peace in my state. These people who have become emigrants, shall have security and liberty. They may return to their monasteries which are located in

3127-402: Was dualist in character, and so was neither a schismatic Catholic nor Orthodox Church. According to Mauro Orbini (d. 1614), the Patarenes and the Manicheans were two Christian religious sects in Bosnia. The Manicheans had a bishop called djed and priests called strojnici (strojniks), the same titles ascribed to the leaders of the Bosnian Church. The religious centre of the Bosnian Church

3186-446: Was established for Herzegovina in 1852. Pope Leo XIII raised it to the status of a province (the Province of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in 1892. The attempts of the Roman Curia to establish the regular church hierarchy in Bosnia and Herzegovina existed since the 13th century. However, due to political reasons, as well as because of the opposition from the Franciscans, these attempts failed. The Franciscans opposed

3245-438: Was functioning without resident bishops, the Holy See founded an Apostolic Vicariate for Bosnia in 1735, and assigned Franciscans as apostolic vicars to direct it. The Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena was restructured to correspond to the borders of Ottoman rule in 1757; it split in 1846, when friars from the Kresevo monastery broke off to found the monastery at Siroki Brijeg. A separate Franciscan jurisdiction (a "custody")

3304-494: Was independent from and considered heretical by both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches. Historians traditionally connected the church with the Bogomils , although this has been challenged and is now rejected by the majority of scholars. Adherents of the church called themselves simply Krstjani ("Christians") or Dobri Bošnjani ("Good Bosnians"). The church's organization and beliefs are poorly understood, because few if any records were left by church members and

3363-497: Was located in Moštre , near Visoko , where the House of Krstjani was founded. Some historians contend that the Bosnian Church had largely disappeared before the Ottoman conquest in 1463. Other historians dispute a discrete terminal point. The Bosnian Church used Slavic language in liturgy . The church was headed by a bishop, called djed ('grandfather'), and had a council of twelve men called strojnici . The monk missionaries were known as krstjani or kršćani ('adherents of

3422-405: Was promised toleration by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror in 1463. Friar Anđeo Zvizdović of the Monastery in Fojnica received the oath on 28 May 1463 at the camp of Milodraž. This ferman is one of the oldest documents on religious freedom, providing independence and tolerance to people of a differing religion, belief, and race. It was republished by the Ministry of Culture of Turkey for

3481-479: Was published. Rački argued that the Bosnian Church was essentially Gnostic and Manichaean in nature. This interpretation has been accepted, expanded and elaborated upon by a host of later historians, most prominent among them being Dominik Mandić , Sima Ćirković , Vladimir Ćorović , Miroslav Brandt , and Franjo Šanjek . However, a number of other historians ( Leo Petrović , Jaroslav Šidak , Dragoljub Dragojlović , Dubravko Lovrenović , and Noel Malcolm ) stressed

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