Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena (also Bosna Argentina ; officially Latin : Provincia OFM Exaltationis S. Crucis – Bosna Argentina ) is a province of the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina , historically active in Croatia as well. Their headquarters are currently in Sarajevo .
35-591: 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
70-599: 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 Too Many Requests If you report this error to
105-693: 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
140-544: 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
175-689: 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
210-568: 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
245-414: 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
280-650: 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
315-571: 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
350-644: 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
385-616: 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,
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#1732783931278420-703: 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
455-676: 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
490-467: 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
525-657: 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
560-619: 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,
595-575: 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
630-598: 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
665-486: 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
700-459: 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
735-523: 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
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#1732783931278770-693: 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 ,
805-569: 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
840-615: 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
875-546: 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
910-597: 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 ,
945-458: 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,
980-619: 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
1015-672: 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
1050-857: 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
1085-992: 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
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1120-517: 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
1155-670: 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
1190-597: 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
1225-479: 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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