Unknown Facts about the Well–Known — The Jesuits in Bosnia

Abstract

It is a well–known fact that prior to WW II and the Communist takeover the Jesuits conducted the Archdiocesan Seminary in Travnik — boarding school and gymnasium. In Sarajevo they conducted the Vrhbosna Theological Seminary. This fact involves also some details heretofore unknown. The author wishes to give readers an understanding of the emergence of a vision and the dynamics of its development. It all began at the time when Austro–Hungary, following the mandate given it by the Berlin Congress (1878), was preparing to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina. A distinguished precursor of the Jesuits upon their arrival in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a ’charismatic’ member of the Society by the name of Fr. Erik Brandis. He considered his vocation to be a missionary vocation. It was born and matured in the course of spiritual exercises. He looked upon it as his life’s mission and endeavoured tirelessly to bring it to fruition. He envisioned the Jesuits opening a small residence in Bosnia and, in time, building a large college with boarding facilities, seminary and gymnasium, modelled after an institute of this kind in Kaloča, Hungary. The project was altered somewhat, accelerated and conformed to the necessity perceived by the first Archbishop of Vrhbosna to establish a boys’ seminary and then also a theological seminary. Both institutes were conducted by the Jesuits from their very beginnings, in collaboration with Archbishop Josip Stadler. This joint effort was not to be spared of its internal tensions, as Fr. Maksimilijan Horrmann points out in his testimony. Their efforts can be grasped only when one comes to understand the desire of the Jesuits to come to Bosnia at any cost and to work toward renewing a land liberated from Turkish rule; also, the Jesuits’ persistent self–denial which does not permit them to articulate to the Archbishop, neither their rights, nor his obligations to the Society — even at their own expense. They justified their attitude by the Archbishop’s tireless endeavours to renew in Christ the Church in Bosnia.