The

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Diocese of Banja Luka (

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

: ''Banjalučka biskupija'', Latin: ''Dioecesis Bania Lucensisis'') is a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

of the

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language onc ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in western

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

. The diocese is centred in the city of

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

. Erected on July 5, 1881, the diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, as the Diocese of Banjaluka. In 1985, the name of the diocese was split to the current diocese of Banja Luka. Bishop Franjo Komarica is head of the diocese. The original Cathedral of Saint Bonaventure in the city was built in 1887. However, an earthquake in 1969 levelled the church. Banja Luka's current cathedral was built in 1974. The city of Banja Luka, and much of the territory that the diocese covers contains an Orthodox Christian majority. The

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

greatly affected the diocese. Virtually all of the churches in the bishopric sustained some damage, and many were destroyed. Many Catholics were expelled from the region or fled, leaving only a fraction remaining. Bishop Komarica has been urging people to return, to mixed results.

History

Christianity arrived on the territory of present-day diocese of Banja Luka during the Roman rule in the first century AD. Christians and bishops from the area settled around two metropolitan seats,

Salona Salona ( grc, Σάλωνα) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Salona is located in the modern town of Solin, next to Split, in Croatia. Salona was founded in the 3rd century BC and was mostly destroyed in ...

and

Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous provice of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyria ...

. In this area there was at that time the seat of at least one diocese, Diocese of Baloie (probably near Šipovo), whose bishop participated in the church synod of Salona in 530. Srednjovjekovne crkve Banjolučka biskupija

Srednjovjekovne crkve Banjolučka biskupija

After the barbaric invasion and after the settlement of Slavic tribes, these regions belonged to the surrounding dioceses:

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

, Nin,

Knin Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...

Krbava Krbava (; ) is a historical region located in Mountainous Croatia and a former Catholic bishopric (1185–1460), precursor of the diocese of Modruš an present Latin titular see. It can be considered either located east of Lika, or indeed as t ...

and

, and the area of today's Banja Luka and the entire northern region was part of the Diocese of Zagreb. A rich life of the Catholic Church in this region before falling under Ottoman rule is testified by numerous churches from ancient and medieval times discovered on the territory of the Diocese. The highest concentration was in the Bihać Deanery area. The Ottoman conquest that brought the demolition of Catholic churches and the

islamization Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occurr ...

of the population, almost completely destroyed the presence of the Catholic Church in these areas, with the exception of southern regions around

Livno Livno ( sr-cyrl, Ливно, ) is a city and the administrative center of Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the river Bistrica in the southeastern edge of the Livno Fiel ...

. City of Bihać resisted the longest, until 1591. From the time of the Ottoman conquest, the pastoral clergy in these parts were almost exclusively Bosnian Franciscans. On the Livno area was recorded the presence of

Glagolitic The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...

Catholic secular priests who celebrated the Slavic liturgy. The bishops did not dare to come to parts of their dioceses that fell under Turkish rule. That is why, in 1735, instead of the existing dioceses, the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

founded the Apostolic Vicariate in Ottoman Bosnia (''Vicariatus Apostolicus Bosniae Othomanae''). The Catholic church in Banja Luka was particularly hard hit during the War of the Holy League (1683-1699). In 1737 parish church in Banja Luka was burned and numerous believers migrated to the Habsburg possessions. Catholic church Mahovljani Banja Luka

After Bosnia Vilayet came under the Austro-Hungarian rule in 1878, Pope

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

restored the vilayet's church hierarchy. In ''Ex hac augusta'', his 5 July 1881 apostolic letter, Leo established a four-diocese

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abolished the previous apostolic vicariates.

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

, formerly Vrhbosna, became the archdiocesan and metropolitan seat. Its suffragan dioceses became the new dioceses of Banja Luka and

Mostar , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Mostar (collage image).jpg , image_caption = From top, left to right: A panoramic view of the heritage town site and the Neretva river from Lučki Bridge, Koski Mehmed Pasha ...

and the existing Diocese of Trebinje-Mrkan.Leo XIII, ''Ex hac augusta'' After the renewal of the regular hierarchy, the Diocese was governed by the apostolic nuncio in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and from 1883 to 1884, by the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Josip Stadler, who served as an apostolic administrator of the Diocese. At the time of its founding, the Diocese had some 36,000 believers. This number has accelerated rapidly with the arrival of the Austrian authorities. During the next decades, numerous Poles, Italians, Germans, Czechs and others moved in the area of the Diocese. During the Second World War and after the war, the Diocese was catastrophically harmed.. One third of all the parishes (13) have completely perished, in 10 of parishes a number of parishioners dropped significantly, and all the others were seriously injured. With a large number of killed believers, the diocese suffered severe loss of priests. During the war and after the war, at least 30 priests were killed. The Holy See started the process of beatification of 4 of them on 21 December 2014: Juraj Gospodnetić, Waldemar Maximilian Nestor, Antun Dujlović and Krešimir Barišić.

Ordinaries

Apostolic Administrators

Bishops

Auxiliary Bishops

Demographics

Diocese of Banja Luka has a population of 550,300. As of 2012, 35,428 (6.44% of the population) are Roman Catholics.

Historical Roman Catholic population

The historical Roman Catholic population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:900 height:500 PlotArea = left:100 right:100 top:10 bottom:50 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:185000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:10000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20000 start:0 PlotData= color:yelloworange width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1884 from:start till:36000text:"c. 36,000" bar:1910 from:start till:73000text:"c. 73,000" bar:1950 from:start till:180000 text:"c. 180,000" bar:1959 from:start till:120000 text:"c. 120,000" bar:1969 from:start till:104448 text:"104,448" bar:1980 from:start till:128832 text:"128,832" bar:1990 from:start till:91664 text:"91,664" bar:1996 from:start till:50000 text:"c. 50,000" bar:1999 from:start till:52711 text:"52,711" bar:2000 from:start till:51700 text:"51,700" bar:2005 from:start till:39896 text:"39,896" bar:2010 from:start till:36513 text:"36,513" bar:2013 from:start till:35590 text:"35,590"

Deaneries

Churches

Parish churches

This is a list of Parish churches by deanery:

Deanery of Banja Luka

*Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Banja Luka *St. Vitus's Church, Barlovci *Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ivanjska * Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Banja Luka *Saints Peter and Paul Church, Motike *Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, Banja Luka *Church of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Presnače *Saints Peter and Paul Church, Šimići *Saint Joseph's Church, Trn

Deanery of Bihać

*Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, Bihać *Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Bosanska Dubica *Saint Joseph's Church, Bosanska Gradiška *Holy Trinity Church, Novi Grad *Saint Joseph's Church, Drvar *Church of Saint Leopold Mandić, Ljubija *Saint Joseph's Church, Prijedor *Saint John the Baptist Church, Ravska *Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sanski Most *Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sasina *Church of Saint Anthony the Hermit, Majdan *Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, Stratinska *Sacred Heart Church, Šurkovac

Deanery of Bosanska Gradiška

*Church of Saint Roch, Gradiška *Saint John the Baptist Church, Bosanski Aleksandrovac *Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dolina *St. Francis' Church, Mahovljani *Saint Joseph's Church, Nova Topola

Deanery of Jajce

* Church of the Assumption, Jajce * Saints Philip and James Church, Mrkonjić Grad *Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ključ *Church of Saint Elias, Liskovica

Deanery of Livno

* Church of Saint Elias, Glamoč * All Saints Church, Livno * Immaculate Conception Church (Vidoši) * Saints Peter and Paul Church, Livno * Saint John the Baptist Church, Livno *St. Michael's Church, Livno *St. Francis' Church, Bila *Church of Saint Elias, Bosansko Grahovo *Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, Čuklić *Saint Joseph's Church, Lištani *Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ljubunčić

Deanery of Prnjavor

*Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, Prnjavor *Church of Saint Leopold Mandić, Dragalovci *Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kotor Varoš *Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kulaši *Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sokoline *St. Francis' Church, Vrbanjci

Religious orders

The Diocese of Banja Luka is home to a small number of religious orders and congregations. While there are not as many today in 2013 as there were in 1950, they still make up a large population of the diocese. In 1950, there were 71 religious priests, 4 male religious, 310 nuns and sisters ministering in the Diocese. As of 2013, 47 priests of religious orders, 92 religious sisters and nuns minister in the diocese.

Male Religious Orders Currently in the Diocese

Franciscan Friars , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

of Bosna Srebrena * Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) *

Carmelites , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount C ...

Female Religious Orders Currently in the Diocese

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul ( la, Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostoli ...

* Servants of the Infant Jesus (Province of

), established by Josip Stadler, archbishop of Vrhbosna * School Sisters of St. Francis ( Bosnian-

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

n Province of

Immaculate Heart of Mary The Immaculate Heart of Mary () is a Roman Catholic devotional name used to refer to the Catholic view of the interior life of Mary, mother of Jesus, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love ...

) *

Adorers of the Blood of Christ The Adorers of the Blood of Christ ( la, Sorores Adoratrices Pretiossimi Sanguinis) are a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women founded by Maria De Mattias in 1834. Their post-nominal letters a ...

Missionaries of Charity The Missionaries of Charity ( la, Congregatio Missionariarum a Caritate) is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as ...

Saints, Blesseds & Venerables of Banja Luka

* Blessed Ivan Merz – Bosnian-

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

n lay academic, beatified by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on a visit at

, Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 23, 2003. Ivan Merz promoted the liturgical movement in Croatia and together with Ivo Protulipac created a movement for the young people, "The Croatian union of the Eagles" ("Hrvatski orlovski savez"), inspired by the "Eucharistic Crusade," which he had encountered in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

References

{{Authority control

1881 establishments in Austria-Hungary