Herzegovina Affair () or Herzegovina Case () refers to a conflict between the Franciscan Province of Herzegovina and the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno over the redistribution of parishes in the said diocese. The conflict between the Franciscans and the diocesan clergy started with the restoration of the regular church hierarchy in Bosnia and Herzegovina after its occupation by Austria-Hungary in 1881. The Herzegovina Case presents a problem in the relationship between the Herzegovinian clergy as well as the Catholic faithful.
History
Bishop Paškal Buconjić
In 1846, the Holy See established the Apostolic Vicariate of Herzegovina, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, and it was considered to be a mission area. The first vicars were all Franciscans, including Fr. Rafo Barišić, fr. Anđeo Kraljević and fr. Paškal Buconjić. Both Barišić and Kraljević requested from the Pope to introduce secular clergy in Herzegovina, which was finally approved after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the region, and in 1881, with the papal bull Ex hac augusta the Apostolic Vicariate was elevated to the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno.
The Franciscans of Herzegovina were on bad terms with Bishop Kraljević, claiming he did not give them enough of the collected alms for the construction of the friary in Humac. The conflict between the bishop and the Franciscans reached its peak during Buconjić's tenure because Franciscans controlled all of the parishes in Herzegovina while the bishop, even though a Franciscan himself, wanted to have diocesan clergy at his disposal. An anonymous letter was sent to Emperor Franz Joseph claiming the bishop was giving donations sent to him by Austria-Hungary to the Ottomans and accusing him of being a turkophile. The Franciscan Custody barred itself from this letter.
In February 1877, Kraljević asked the Propaganda to send an apostolic visitor to Herzegovina and accused Buconjić of neglecting the parishes and the Herzegovinian Franciscans of taking the payment for maintenance by force from the believers during the Easter Communion. The Congregation appointed Bishop Kazimir Forlani the apostolic visitor; he arrived in Mostar in February the next year. Forlani finished his report in May 1878; he advised the Bishop to act in agreement with the Franciscans, to record revenues and expenditures, and to help the construction of the friary in Humac. The question of the parishes remained unresolved.
The main issue during Buconjić's episcopate diocese was the division of parishes between the diocesan clergy and the Franciscans, who tried to confirm their dominance in Herzegovina with Rome. Even though the papal bull Ex hac augusta ended the privileges the Franciscans enjoyed in their missionary work, they still wanted to retain all of the parishes in the diocese. The Franciscans were confident that Buconjić, a Franciscan, would not disturb their possession of parishes. In December 1881, however, Custos Zovko wrote to the Order's General about the parishes in Herzegovina. The General asked Zovko about the right of possession of those parishes, to which Zovko replied in February 1882 that the Franciscans had established and controlled those parishes and, therefore, had patronage over them. That December, Zovko again asked the General about the situation with the parishes in Herzegovina; the General responded that Herzegovinian Franciscans have nothing to fear since Buconjić loved the Franciscan Custody. Buconjić confirmed to the General he would not take the parishes from the Franciscans but would retain the newly established parishes for the diocese.
The new Custos, Luka Begić, who was elected in May 1883, became concerned the position of the Franciscans would be endangered, even if only the diocese controlled only the newly established parishes, and insisted even those parishes should belong to the Franciscan Custody. He talked to Buconjić about the issue; Buconjić complied with his concerns and agreed the newly established parishes should belong to the Custody. Begić informed the General about the agreement in July 1883; he received no reply so he wrote again in March 1885, when Buconjić was supposed to visit Rome and settle the issue. That May, the General's deputy Andrea Lupori replied, asking Buconjić to take with him the contract about the parishes he signed and the definitors of the Custody.
The Custody decided Begić should follow Buconjić to Rome with the instruction the Franciscans should retain the parishes west of the Neretva River while the bishop should dispose of those on the eastern bank; in the case this would not be accepted, Begić was instructed to give in "as least as possible". Buconjić and Begić arrived in Rome on 12 May 1885. The Propaganda received Begić's request in June 1885, and they informed the State Secretariat about the issue. Secretary of State Cardinal Luigi Jacobini asked Nuncio Cardinal Serafino Vannutelli in Vienna to ask Buconjić about the parishes the Franciscans were supposed to retain and those that were at his disposal. In December 1885, Vannutelli asked Buconjić whether he agreed with Begić's proposal or to write which parishes the Franciscans should retain and which should be at his disposal. In January 1886, Buconjić informed Vannutelli he would not take the parishes from the Franciscans.
Upon receiving Buconjić's answer, Vannutelli informed Jacobini that the agreement between the Franciscans and Buconjić should not be confirmed and that the parishes should be divided as in Bosnia, where the situation was the same as in Herzegovina. Vannutelli proposed at least one-third of the parishes should be under the disposal of the bishop, but because Buconjić was a Franciscan himself, Vannutelli considered it would be impossible to bring a new solution and that the Herzegovinian Custos should be informed Rome did not want to make any new decrees because there was a harmony between the bishop and the friars. Jacobini accepted Vannutelli's position. Thus, Rome kept the issue unresolved. Friar Lujo Radoš fruitlessly urged the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in March 1888.
Lupori advised Friar Nikola Šimović to explain the Franciscans' position on the matter to the Nuncio in Vienna and to try to get a confirmation for their proposal. At the end of October 1889, he visited the Nuncio, who told him he would try to resolve the matter in the interest of the Franciscans. After returning to Mostar, Šimović wrote to the Nuncio again, reminding him of Radoš's proposal from 1888. The Nuncio replied in December 1889, promising to support such a proposal. The issue, however, remained unresolved for years.
In 1892, the Franciscan Custody of Herzegovina was elevated to a province. After Begić was elected Provincial in 1898, he tried to broker any deal he could rather than hold the insecure status quo. Buconjić was supposed to visit Rome after Easter in 1899, which Begić saw as an opportunity to resolve the issue of parishes. Custos Rafael Radoš was supposed to join Buconjić in Rome but died in March 1899. In April of that year, Begić wrote to the General of the Order to represent the Franciscan Province in Herzegovina. Buconjić discussed the issue with Begić; both men wanted to preserve the strong Franciscan presence in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno. Buconjić proposed that 25 parishes should belong to the Franciscans while 12 would be at the bishop's disposal. Buconjić also proposed the establishment of 12 additional parishes that would be at the bishop's disposal.
Pope Leo XIII confirmed the Decisia on 17 July 1899; 14 parishes were designated to the diocesan clergy while others were left to the Franciscans. Buconjić postponed the publication of the pope's decision until 1908; both Buconjić and the Franciscans were unsatisfied with the decision. The beginning of this publication states, "We considered it adequate to present before the eyes of the priests of our dioceses, and especially to the young ones, the copies of the solemn Decisia concerning the parishes established or those ought to be established. This Decisia must remain solid and constant to avoid any dissent or changeability of wishes." He asked the pope for permission to trust certain dioceses to the Franciscans because he lacked the diocesan priests. With time, however, the Deceisa remained neither solid nor constant, and "the dissent and changeability of wishes" were not avoided. The will of Buconjić about the division of the parishes was not respected.
Bishop Alojzije Mišić
After becoming a bishop, Mišić only had 12 diocesan priests at his disposal, while the rest of the clergy was made of the Franciscans. The Balkan Wars and the World War I halted the possibility of educating additional diocesan priests while the number of Franciscans grew. The circumstances demanded the establishment of new parishes, and like his predecessor, Mišić had the authority to appoint the Franciscans to the new parishes with the approval from the general of the Franciscan Order. The Herzegovinian Franciscans used the leverage by letting Mišić know that the Franciscans would not serve the new parishes unless they were legally transferred to them. Mišić cared little about raising the diocesan clergy even though as of 1925, the Propaganda sent him some 2,000 United States dollars monthly for the secular clergy. The money remained unused and perished in banks during the World War II. He also refused to appoint newly ordained secular priests to parishes.
As a bishop, Mišić established 14 new parishes and constructed 21 churches and 24 parish residences. Among the parishes he established are Čapljina (1917), Izbično (1917), Čitluk (1918), Gradac-Blizanci (1918), Tepčići (1918), Jablanica (1919), Grljevići (1919), Kongora (1921), Prisoje (1922), Kruševo (1924), Ledinac (1930), Rašeljke (1934), Crnač (1935) and Šipovača (1939). The first major conflict between the Franciscans and the Diocese occurred in 1917, after the establishment of the Parish of Čapljina. Čapljina was supposed to be handed to the diocesan clergy, but Mišić didn't enact the transfer.
The Herzegovinian Franciscans used Mišić's origin as an uninformed Bosnian outsider to try to change Decisia, the decision from 1899 on the division of parishes between them end the diocesan clergy issued by the Holy See, to their advantage. On 25 April 1922, the Provincial of the Herzegovinian Franciscans Alojzije Bubalo wrote a petition for the pope to give them the parishes that were designated for the diocesan clergy by Decisia. They demanded that all the existing parishes and those that would be established in the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno belong to them, as well as the parish of Neum that belonged to the Diocese of Trebinje-Mrkan. The Franciscans reasoned that their request was justified since there was a lack of the diocesan clergy in the diocese, with only three priests active. However, the main reason for the lack of the secular clergy was insufficient care of the previous bishop, Bucnjić, and the current bishop, Mišić, over raising the secular clergy. At the time, Mišić was supposed to travel to Rome for an ad limina visit with the pope and was accompanied by friar Jerko Boras, custos of the Herzegovinian Franciscans. Boras was supposed to petition the General of the Franciscan Order Bernardino Klumper, who would discuss the issue with the pope. Since Klumper wasn't present then, the petition was given to Callisto Zuccotti, the procurator of the Franciscan Order. Before giving the petition to the pope, Zuccotti invited Mišić, the protector of the Franciscan Order Cardinal Oreste Giorgi, and Boras to discuss the issue. They concluded that Mišić personally should modify and give the petition to the pope.