If we were to judge by the caves existing in the area of Brotnjo as well as in the parish of Medjugorje, we can't completely exclude the likelihood of habitation as far back as the older Stone Age period. From the later Stone Age period, there is material proof of the existence of a pre-Illyrian culture and civilisation in the area. In the older Bronze Age, there is proof of Illyrian tribes. Copper objects found in the area are evidence of an intensive way of life. Some walled settlements on the higher points, so-called "gradine" ( castle ruins ), which were either circular or square in shape, date from this period.he writings on the gravestones testify that Roman legions and cohorts were situated in the area, and that Roman veteran squaddies lived there. There remain some pieces of a road from the time of the Romans, built in the 3rd century. He most serious archaeological site from the Roman time is to be found in the Catholic cemetery in Miletina, where some vestiges of buildings made of Roman bricks have been discovered , nevertheless it hasn't been sufficiently examined.
At the end of the 6th century, Croatians started to establish themselves in these regions. The region of Brotnjo represented a tribal political-territorial unit, a district, with a tribal regional chief, a district prefect. Up to the 12 th century, this area was Glagolitic. The famous Plaque of Humac testifies to this. In the second 1/2 the 12th century a kind of the Cyrillic alphabet called Bosancica overcame. In the area of Brotnjo, not one mediaeval Latin inscription is to be found, only Croatian inscriptions drafted in Bosancica.
Bosnia and Herzegovina dropped under Turkish power in the year 1463. The Turkish attackers wished to occupy the whole of Croatia too, to reach Vienna and Rome, and similarly further west. Not only were many Croatian lives lost in constant warfare, but the central bit of Croatia - its heart - was also took away : Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The life of the Catholics under Turkish rule was continually exposed to the forced passage into Islam, to oppression and to persecution. Under the Turkish feudal system, no Croatian could possess anything immovable. Catholics were permanently thought about as enemies of the state, because their head was in enemy territory : Rome.
The activities of the Franciscans in these areas from the very time of their arrival had a major influence on the survival of Croatians under cultural, non secular and each other aspect. The Franciscans emerged in Croatian regions in the first decades of the 13th century. During the whole time of the Turkish occupation ( 1463 to 1878 ), the Franciscans were the sole ones who tended to the non secular needs of the Croatian Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and their only representatives and defenders in front of the Turkish administration.
The 1st Franciscan Province to be set up in the region of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the Bosnian Franciscan Province. In 1852, the Herzegovinian Custody was established, and in 1892 the Herzegovinian Franciscan province was founded, members of which serve today in the parish of Medjugorje.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")