Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/y54jofvq4m
How Strossmayer viewed Bosnia and Herzegovina
Slavko Slišković
; University of Zagreb, Catholic Faculty of Theology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
After several centuries-long Ottoman occupation, Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period of the episcopacy of Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer experienced in the short interval great changes on social, political and ecclesiastical plane. These countries remained for a long period Western borderlands, and soon afterwards even an isolated peninsula of formerly powerful empire, which at that time became incapable of following modernisation processes of contemporary European societies. Because of that, this area was surrendered for administration to Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, even though it remained under the formal sovereignty of the Sublime Porte. In such circumstances, numerous questions on which was impossible to answer in previous periods were actualised, particularly those related to the position of Catholic church. Among other things, the education of Franciscan students in theology required systematic solutions adapted to the situation in the rest of Catholic Christendom and the progress of education in general. Coming of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the administration of Catholic rulers opened possibilities for giving up archaic form of ecclesiality and introduction of regular ecclesiastical authorities. Questionable became also the position of hitherto privileged Moslem population and social affirmation of hitherto disenfranchised Christian population, as well as the role of Islam as religion. Preconditions for foundation and activity of different cultural institutions and to them connected national emancipations have been also created. The article follows the attitude of Bishop Strossmayer towards the processes mentioned above and presents a rounded picture of his views on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Keywords
Josip Juraj Strossmayer; Bosnia i Herzegovina; Franciscans; the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna; cultural goods; Islam
Hrčak ID:
281712
URI
Publication date:
13.9.2022.
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