Celebrated Day of Archdiocese’s Seminary “Petar Barbarić”


With a Holy Mass in the church of St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Travnik, the Day of the Archdiocese’s Seminary “Petar Barbarić” was celebrated and the 124th anniversary of the death of this Servant of God was marked.

The Eucharistic celebration was led by the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, cardinal Vinko Puljić together with 18 priests among whom were: Vicar General of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese Msgr. Slađan Ćosić, dean of Travnik, venerable Marko Mikić, and the rector of the seminary and the director of KŠC in Travnik, venerable Željko Marić, who welcomed and greeted everyone.

In his homily, cardinal Puljić, first reminded that every Thursday in the seminary church is a votive day when the faithful make a special pilgrimage to Petar Barbarić. “We pray that this young man, who passed away 124 years ago and whose earthly remains are in this church, be beatified as soon as possible and that he advocates for us with God”, the preacher said, recalling that the Servant of God had a burning desire to become a priest. “In the family home he learned to pray the rosary, and in the seminary to love Our Lady and Jesus in the Eucharist”, the cardinal said, recalling Barbarić's famous advice on how to achieve holiness by performing his daily duties. “Faith in the risen Christ should be the driving force. He who keeps God's commandments believes in Christ”, concluded the Archbishop of Vrhbosna.

Before the final blessing, the rector of the seminary and the director of KŠC, venerable Marić, informed those present that the celebration of School Day had been cancelled due to the current epidemiological situation. Therefore, the principal of the primary school Anto Rajić read the decision of the Pedagogical Council of the Catholic School System for Europe, which awarded the Lukić-Dlouhi award to the student of that school, Nives Sivro, while the principal of the gymnasium, Ivana Čurčić, announced that the student Lorena Šapina, received the Petar Barbarić award, which is also awarded at the level of System for high school students.

In addition, Rector Marić paid tribute to the married couple Vinko and Nevenka Rajič, who took care of Petar Barbarić's birth house for 15 years.

After the Holy Mass, animated by singing and playing by the Children's Choir from the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from Prozor, in the premises of the seminary, a meeting of educators with parents and parish priests of seminarians was organized.

It is worth recalling that this Eucharistic celebration also marked the 124th anniversary of the death of the Servant of God Petar Barbarić, to whom Pope Francis approved the Decree on Heroic Virtues on March 18th 2015., which is another step towards his beatification. On that occasion, before the Holy Mass, a new song which was written and set to music by Vlado Kudić and is about the future blessed Petar, was presented.