With the participation of the multitude of believers who filled the seminary's Neo-Renaissance church blessed in 1885, the vicar general of the Vrhbosna archdiocese, Dr. Msgr. Slađan Ćosić, director of the KŠC in Travnik, rev. Željko Marić, directors of other KŠC’s in BiH and more than 30 priests.

Numerous people from the socio-political life of BiH and the Republic of Croatia were also present at the Holy Mass celebration, among them Zvonko Milas, the envoy of the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and representatives of the Croatian Parliament, Radoje Vidović and Nevenko Barbarić.

After the words of welcome delivered by the teacher at the Centre’s boarding school, rev. Josip Dedić, leading into the Holy Mass celebration, the Archbishop of Vrhobosna thanked God and all the people who contributed to this KŠC and the Seminary experiencing the silver jubilee of their renewed work. He encouraged to pray for God's blessing so that this institution could continue to be at the service of peace and the good of people.

Taking inspiration from the example of the three servants of God

In the appropriate homily, Msgr. Vukšić reminded that the 25^th anniversary of the revival of spiritual, school, educational and cultural activities in Travnik takes place in spaces that remember life and work from its establishment in 1882 until its violent closure in 1945.

"Knowledge, responsibility, respect, tolerance and creativity are the concepts and values with which the Catholic School Centre and the Petar Barbarić Archbishop's Seminary are presented to the public in our time. At the same time, this is also the program of our institutions that we are proud of", said Archbishop Tomo and pointed out that this Centre says for itself: "We preserve the best of traditional education, while at the same time we accept modern methods and the development of teaching and learning." Praising such direction, he said that it is extremely important to "know where we come from, who we are and what we are, where we are going and how we, as witnesses and builders of good and peace, will reach our goal". He explained that this educational centre also remembers persecution, kidnapping, bans, contempt, disparagement and violently closed doors for the activities of the Catholic Church. He pointed out that the purpose and motivation of the church and the building of the Seminary are "strengthening in goodness and nobility and growing in piety and holiness of all who came here or stayed and worked here".

"Today, we should say with pride, with a humble acknowledgment that it was not always successful, that great fruits are visible in that spiritual area as well," said Msgr. Vukšić and mentioned the examples of three servants of God who are directly connected with these institutions and for where the procedures for the proclamation of blessed and holy: the first archbishop of Vrhbosna Josip Stadler, the missionary Ante Gabrić and the seminarian Petar Barbarić are being conducted.

"And while we wait and humbly pray that, if it is God's will, at least one of the three will be raised to the honour of the altar, we ask God's blessing so that in our lives, both as individuals and as institutions, we can follow the examples of these God-pleasers in our paths of witnessing goodness, personal consecration for the sake of spreading the glory of God and our salvation," said Archbishop Tomo and ended the sermon by quoting the seminarian Barbarić: "Of all the paths that lead to heaven, it seems to me the shortest, the easiest and the most reliable is the one that a person takes in fulfilling his daily duties.“

At the end of the Holy Mass celebration, which was animated by the parish choir of the parish of St. Anthony of Padua from Žepče, under the leadership of sister Slavica Tubak, words of thanks to all who contributed to the celebration of the silver jubilee were expressed by educator Dedić.

Since 1882 to the present

After the Eucharist, a formal academy followed in the hall of the Centre, which began with the hymn of the Catholic School Centres performed by the school choir under the direction of Vlatka Čabro.

In the program led by rev. Dedić, one could hear a lot of information about the Gymnasium and the Seminary, which, thanks to the first Vrhbosna Archbishop Josip Stadler, opened on January 9^th, 1882 under the leadership of father Erik Brandis, went through difficult times after First World War and takings after Second World War, just to "resurrect" in 1998. Also, numerous names of dignitaries who "emerged" in this, after the Sarajevo State Gymnasium, the oldest high school in Bosnia and Herzegovina, were also mentioned, among which were several archbishops, missionaries, musicians and poets. In a special way, attention was paid to the figure of the seminarian who died on April 15^th, 1897 in the name of holiness: the servant of God, Peter Barbarić. As persons responsible for the life of this institution after its revival, the names of the directors were highlighted: Dr. rev. Pero Pranjić, M.Sc. Msgr. Luka Tunjić, rev. Marijan Pejić and current M.Sc. Marić.

Plaques to the deserving

As the focal point of the academy was a stage work symbolically called the Monument. It was staged by the students and employees of KŠC, under the direction of the director of the Croatian Theatre from Travnik, Ante Bilić, who was in charge of the direction, and Lidija Bilić, who did the choreography. With pictures and words, they took the attendees through the most important events from the establishment of the Institute in 1882 to the silver jubilee of its reconstruction in 2023.

After that, director Marić presented awards to individuals who marked a quarter of a century of the Travnik KŠC in a special way.

Thus, the absent first director, Dr. Pranjić, received a jubilee plaque for his special contribution to the renovation of the Seminary building; the jubilee thank-you plaque for the special promotion of the image and works of Petar Barbarić was also presented to the absent wartime parish priest of Travnik, rev. Pavo Nikolić; and a charity plaque was awarded to the Hoelz family: Heribert and Ursula from Neukirchen-Vluyn, near Duisburg, for their continued support of the needs and projects of the Seminary and Centre.

"The students make the school special"

In an appropriate address, the director rev. Željko said that among human achievements and activities, nothing is as noble and at the same time as demanding as the upbringing and education of young people. "We are extremely proud that as a Centre we have accepted this task from the Church and that we live with it and for it. Our silver jubilee is a true celebration of thanks to everyone who belongs to our school family, but also a true plea to continue serving by helping young people discover their true value, and that is impossible without the school", said the director and thanked former and current school directors, employees, professors, teachers, educators, Centre staff and parents and students. "The school is made special by students who are looking for new knowledge. Dear students of our Centre, make us proud with your work, your association with the book - it will make you better people and make your mind and heart creative and recognizable. Reading and books are the most important companions in youth, able to raise your imagination, vocation and life mission to unimagined levels. Congratulating you on School Day, we count on your potential and want you to be proud of your KŠC", said M.Sc. Marić and also thanked the archbishops of Vrhbosna, starting with the founder, the Servant of God, Josip Stadler, the restorer cardinal Vinko Puljić and the long-time promoter of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna Dr. Pero Sudar and the current Tomo Vukšić.

In conclusion, he thanked all the benefactors whom he invited "to make the extremely difficult and expensive reconstruction project our joint mission".

Congratulations and thanks to the benefactors

After the musical number performed by the high school student Marija Kvasina, those present were greeted by the Minister of Education of the Central Bosnia County, Bojan Domić, and Radoje Vidović who is the representative of the President of the Croatian Parliament, Dr. Gordan Jandroković.

Given that the Government of the Republic of Croatia declared the Travnik Institute of special importance for Croats outside the Republic of Croatia and that before the Holy Mass a contract was signed on the support of the renovation of the KŠC building, the audience was also greeted by the special envoy of Prime Minister Plenković, Zvonko Milas. On behalf of the guests from Herzegovina, with whom Travnik is connected by the native Herzegovinian servant of God Petar Barbarić, the mayor of Ljubuški, Vedran Markotić, greeted the audience.

At the end, Archbishop Vukšić of Vrhbosna greeted those present and congratulated the Centre, thanking all benefactors, especially the Government of the Republic of Croatia.

At the end, the school choir sang the song Blagoslovljena ova zemlja moja (This blessed land of mine), which was a kind of message of the silver jubilee of the Travni KŠC.

It should be mentioned that the sponsors of the celebration were: the City of Ljubuški with Mayor Markotić, the company MRM Export Import Ljubuški with owner Miro Rupčić, and the Government of Central Bosnia County, i.e. the Ministry of Education headed by Minister Domić.

After the formal academy, those present could see an appropriate art exhibition of the works of the students of the Travnik KŠC, an exhibition of the letters of the servant of God Petar Barbarić, and refresh themselves at a banquet in the seminary dining room.

How important the Travnik KŠC is, as the successor of the famous Gymnasium, a vitally important institution for Croats in BiH, and especially the population of Central Bosnia, is evidenced by the data that from its establishment until its closure and seizure in 1945, 16 148 students received their education here, and after its reconstruction in 1998, so to date, 2 180 students have graduated from elementary school, and 1 337 from high school.