DR. FRA MIJO MIHOVIL SUČIĆ, FRANJEVAC, SVEĆENIK, LIJEČNIK I KIRURG

Abstract

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.