Pregledni rad
DR MIJO MIHOVIL SUČIĆ, FRANCISCAN FRIAR, PRIEST, PHYSICIAN, AND SURGEON
Andrija Nikić
Sažetak
This article describes the life of Fra Mijo Mihovil Sučić (Livno, 1820-1865), his education,
medical study in Padua, Italy, activities in Bosnia after return, his death, his burial monument
and his legacy.
His education started in Livno and Fojnica. He joined the Franciscan order in 1837 and
replaced his Christened name Stjepan (Stephen) with Fra Mijo. After taking vows in 1938,
he completed the study of philosophy in 1840. In 1845, he graduated in theology in Venice
and became a priest.
Having obtained a special consent from the Holy See, he took up medicine and surgery in
Padua, and completed the studies in 1850. Upon return to Bosnia, he became the official
physician not only of the Franciscans, but also of the local people. He practised all over
Bosnia and a part of Herzegovina.
Sadly however, his life was short. One winter, when he was recovering from a disease in
Livno, he was asked to deliver a baby in Šuica, a five-hour walk from Livno. This is where
he caught severe cold. While his fellow friars comforted him that he’d get over it, Fra Mijo
replied: I’m done, please give me my rites”. He died in the monastery on 3 March 1865, and
was buried at Gorica cemetery near Livno. A huge cross, dragged from the stone workshop
to the cemetery by 28 oxen, bears witness to Fra Mijo’s high repute and to people’s gratitude.
His apothecary scale, surgical and dental instruments, his pharmacopoeia and other practice
instruments have been preserved in the monastery of Livno. His legacy is kept in the Museum
of Gorica, including over a hundred volumes from the first half of the 19th century and several books from the 1850s and 1860s. A few disciples of his continued his medical practice.
Today the County Hospital of Livno bears his name “Dr Fra Mihovil Sučić”.
Being the first surgeon in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fra Mijo Sučić is not only the pioneer,
but also the role model of bedside manners.
Ključne riječi
history of medicine; 19th century; physicians; Franciscans; Mijo Sučić; Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hrčak ID:
101672
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2007.
Posjeta: 3.456 *