Roman Catholic Diocese of Bosnia

Diocese of Bosnia (Latin: Dioecesis Bosniensis) was a Latin Catholic diocese that existed in Bosnia between the 11th and 15th centuries, and remained formally in existence until 1773.^[1][2]

  Diocese of Bosnia in the 15th century

History

John of Wildeshausen, Bishop of Bosnia

It is not known precisely when the Bosnian diocese was established. Based on a collection of historical documents Provinciale Vetus, published in 1188, which mention it twice, once subordinated to the Archdiocese of Split, and another time under the Archdiocese of Ragusa, it is assumed that it came into existence between 1060 and 1075.^[3] During the 12th century, it was contested between those two archdioceses as well as another two, the Archdiocese of Antivari and the Archdiocese of Kalocsa.^[4] In 1244, an endowment of the parishes of Đakovo and Blezna by King Béla IV of Hungary listed the other parishes of the diocese, namely Vrhbosna, Neretva, Lepenica, Vidgossa (Viduša), Mile (near today's Visoko), Lašva, Uskoplje, Brod (near today's Zenica), Borač (near today's Rogatica).^[5][6]

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Bishops of Bosnia were mainly Dominican missionaries who were sent in to combat the spread of the Bosnian Church.^[7] At the turn of the 14th century, the Franciscans also arrived with the same purpose, at first in Usora and Soli, at the request of Stephen Dragutin of Serbia.^[8] The two orders engaged in a prolonged dispute over the control of the province, in which the Franciscans ultimately prevailed, yet the weakened diocese still succumbed to the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia in 1463.^[9]

During the Ottoman occupation, the bishop of Bosnia had no effective control over the territory of Bosnia, rather, the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena remained the primary vessel of Catholicism in the area. In 1735, the Holy See founded the Apostolic Vicariate for Bosnia, and assigned Franciscans as apostolic vicars to direct it, thereby formally ending the jurisdiction of this diocese over Bosnia.

In 1773,^[1] pope Clement XIV united formally the diocese with the Diocese of Syrmia on demand of the Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Hungary and Croatia, Maria Theresa. The 1773 change subordinated it to the Archdiocese of Zagreb. In 1881, the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna was established, that included the actual territory of Bosnia. The Diocese of Bosnia (Ðakovo) and Srijem became the present-day Archdiocese of Ðakovo-Osijek.^[10]

Bishops of Bosnia

12th century
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
c. 1141		Vladislav
c. 1151		Milovan
c. 1171		Radogost	Also recorded as Rhadagastus.
13th century
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
after 1209		Dragonja
after 1210		Bratoslav
1223	c. 1233	Vladimir
1233	1239	Bl. Ioannes Teutonicus	Dominican friar, also recorded as bl. Ivan Njemac. He resigned in 1239 and returned to the monastery.
1239	c. 1272	Ponsa	Dominican friar, also recorded as Povša. He had built cathedral of Saint Peter in village Brdo (Vrhbosna). Because of the threats of Patarenes, Ponsa went from Vrhbosna to Đakovo in 1252 and since then the seat of the Bishop of Bosnia was mainly in Ðakovo.
c. 1272	1273	Roland
c. 1280		Andrija Ugrin	Dominican friar
c. 1291	c. 1299	Toma
14th century
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
c. 1301	c. 1304	Nikola
1308	1314	Grgur	Augustinian
1314	1316	Benedikt Guiscard
1317	1334	Petar I	Dominican friar
1334	1336	Sede vacante
1336	1347	Lovro Lorandov
1347	1349	Ivan II
1349	1356	Peregrin Saxon	Franciscan friar
1356	1376	Peter Siklósi
1376	1382	Dominik	Dominican friar
1382	1387	Đuro
1387	1407	Ivan III Mrnjavić
15th century
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1407	1410	Sede vacante
1410	1427	Benedikt II de Benedictis
1427	1428	Dionizije de Jakč de Kusely
1428	1436	Josip de Bezza
1444	1454	Rafael
1454	1455	Filip Gothali
1455	1457	Sede vacante
1457	1459	Pavao
1459	1463	Grgur II	Franciscan friar Ottoman Empire conquered the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463.
1463	1465	Sede vacante
1465	1466	Demetrije Čupor
1468	unknown	Benedikt III Levey
1486	1489	Matija de Warda
1489	1491	Stjepan od Velike Luke
1491	1493	Luka	Also recorded as Lucas Szegedi, Chief Justice of Hungary (1502–1503), bishop of Zagreb (1500–1510).
1493	1501	Gabrijel Polgar	Dominican friar, also recorded as Polner or Polver.
16th century
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1501	1516	Mihalj Kešerić de Chybarth
c. 1516	unknown	Donat a Turre	Also recorded as Donato della Torre.
1524	1526	Juraj II Paližna
1526	1533	Sede vacante
1533		Bernard Gentilis
1533	1573	Sede vacante
1573	1583	Anto Matković	Franciscan friar, also recorded as Antonio Poli de Mathaeis.[11]
1583	1588	Sede vacante
1588	1615	Franjo Baličević	Franciscan friar
17th century
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1615	1625	Anto Matić Požežanin
1625	1631	Sede vacante
1631	1635	Ivan IV Tomko Mrnavić
1635	1639	Sede vacante
1639	1644	Toma V Mrnavić
1645	1660	Marijan Maravić
1660	1669	Sede vacante
1669	1701	Nikola III Ogramić	Franciscan friar. Lived and ruled in Bosnia for a while. Murdered on August 14, 1701.
18th century
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1701	1703	Sede vacante
1703		Petar III Stanko Crnković
1703	1716	Đuro Patačić od Zajezda	Also recorded as Juraj III. Patačić, ordered the construction of the new bishop's residence and new cathedral. He had convened the first synod of the Diocese of Bosnia in Đakovo.
1716	1749	Petar IV Bakić de Lach
1749	1751	Franjo III Thauzy	Translated to Kalocsa
1751	1773	Josip Antun Ćolnić
On July 9, 1773 Diocese of Bosnia was united with Diocese of Sirmio
Sources:[12][13]

References

1. "Diocese of Bosnia (Bosna)" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016
2. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Đakovo–Osijek" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
3. OŠJ 1975, p. 134.
4. Napredak 1998, pp. 718–736.
5. OŠJ 1975, p. 334.
6. Napredak 1998, pp. 747–751.
7. Šanjek 1996, p. 54.
8. Napredak 1998, p. 755.
9. OŠJ 1975, p. 370.
10. "Archdiocese of Ðakovo-Osijek". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
11. "Bishop Antonio Poli (de Mathaeis), O.F.M." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 21, 2016
12. "Povijest-Biskupi (History-Bishops)". vrhbosanska-nadbiskupija.org (in Croatian). Archdiocese of Vrhbosna. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
13. "Bosanska biskupija (Diocese of Bosnia)". vrhbosanska-nadbiskupija.org (in Croatian). Archdiocese of Vrhbosna. Retrieved 11 May 2013.

Sources

• Opći šematizam Katoličke crkve u Jugoslaviji 1974 (in Croatian). Zagreb: Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia. 1975.
• Povijest Bosne i Hercegovine od najstarijih vremena do godine 1463 (in Croatian). Vol. I. Sarajevo: HKD Napredak. 1998.
• Šanjek, Franjo (1996). Kršćanstvo na hrvatskom prostoru. Pregled religiozne povijesti Hrvata (7.-20. st.) (in Croatian). Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnjost.

Another sources

• Magyar katolikus lexikon I–XV. Főszerk. Diós István; szerk. Viczián János. Budapest: Szent István Társulat. 1993–2010., list of bishops:

43.859411°N 18.425424°E / 43.859411; 18.425424