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P A R I S H P A R I S H E S A N D O R D E R S Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish church was built in 1890 and was renovated several times. It was radically refurbished for the last time after a terrible earthquake on 1969. It has three bells. The Franciscans assisted the parish till 1900, and Diocesan priests after that. The oldest Parish registers are aged exactly two and half centuries (from 1753). These Registers count baptisms, marriages and deaths(one volume for each) and they are a precious source of data. Parish Presnače was separated from Blessed Virgin Mary in 1971. This parish has produced many significant people during its history, including at least one bishop (fra Mato Benlić). But the most honorable its member is the honorable God’s servant Ivan Merz. He was born and grew up in this parish, and as we are expecting, will be the very first beatified man of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The parish house is close to the church, but its biggest part was nationalized after the Second World War. Only a few offices and one flat are at the disposal of the priest. This parish has several cemeteries along with chapels. Banja Luka Catholics have very nice cemeteries, such as “St. Marko”, “St. Juraj” in Pavlovac, but some people have recently been buried in the New town cemetery. There are Catholic cemeteries in Ducipolje and Rekavice, villages that are part of Banja Luka parish, but both their chapels were destroyed in 1992, and the believers were displaced. We have already mentioned a very old cemetery, unfortunately destroyed, on Lauš, but there is no any trace of evidence of this cemetery any more. An old Banja Luka cemetery was nicely named Mass Garden, but as a result of the urbanization process it came to be located in the center of town. In the 1950’s bodies were exhumed, and the cemetery doesn’t exist any more.
St. Anthony Parish on Petrićevac St. Anthony parish is the second oldest in the Banja Luka region. The residence was originally in the village Rakovac in 1889, and was named after the village. It was moved to its current place after the construction of the monastery in 1876.? Franciscan friars have assisted at the parish. Three more parishes were separated from this one on the part of the town and suburban settlements. The names of the parishes are: Maria Stella, Budžak and Motike. The parishioners were mainly displaced in the period from 1992 till 1995. The monumental modern parish church was totally destroyed by mines on May 7, 1995, the monastery of Holy Trinity was burned, and the Nestor of the monastery, 80 year-old Franciscan friar fra Alojzije Atlija suffered badly and died under the ruins. He was a tragic victim of the wild Serbian forces. It is worth mentioning that this parish has produced two cardinals at the end of 20th century. These are the deceased Guido Del Mestri, archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See, as well as the archbishop of Sarajevo Archdiocese Vinko Puljić. Both of them were born in the territory of Petrićevac parish. The same parish is the native parish of the current Ordinary of Banja Luka, mons dr Franjo Komarica. Indeed, parish that deserves the every respect! The parish had succursals, in other words small chapels in Vujnovići, Novakovići and Šargovac but all of them were destroyed at nineties of the 20th century. In recent times a very nice wooden chapel was made in Novakovići, alongside the family house of bishop Komarica.
St. Theresa of Jesus Child Parish and Shrine in Presnače Parsih Presnače was separated from Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in 1971. Beside some town streets, those settlements were given to the parish: Bosanska Vrbanja, Čelinac, Debeljaci, Presnače and Rebrovac. The very beautiful church of St. Theresa of Jesus Child was made there in 1982, and three years later was proclaimed as a Diocesan shrine. Unfortunately, on May 12, 1995 the church was mined and totally destroyed, the parish house burned, and the parish priest Fr. Filip Lukenda and sr. Cecilija Grgić, after badly torturing, ended their lives like martyrs in the burning parish house, which they didn’t want to leave in such straits. Since that time, the parish house has been renewed, and the church has been just built again and the roof was set. There are two very old cemeteries in the region, one alongside St. Jakov apostol chapel in Debeljaci and another near St. Ana chapel in Rebrovac, beloved shrine from immemorial time. Both chapels were badly damaged in the recent war, as well as the chapel dedicated to the Heart of Virgin Mary at the cemetery in Čelinac that was burned only a year after being built.
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Trappisti Only a year and a half after Presnače parish was separated from the town parish, one more parish was established in Banja Luka, alongside the well-known Trappist monastery Maria Stella. Bishop Alfred Pichelr established it on May 13, 1973, separating it from parish Petrićevac as well as Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Banja Luka parish and entrusting its administration to the local Trappist monks. A huge Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery church serves as the parish church. The parish has four chapels: in Česma, Mađir and Priječani, as well as on the St. Ivo cemetery in Delibašino Selo, and three cemeteries (Priječani, Česma and St. Ivo in Delibašino Selo). Those small chapels shared the destiny of many other parishes in the last decade and were equally injured.
Parish Budžak The youngest parish in Banja Luka is only 20 years old. It’s Budžak parish, established in October 13, 1983 and settled in Derviši. Only the parish house was built, and the building of the parish church was interrupted by the recent war. There is a convent for the Sisters of the Christ Precious Blood, and their chapel served for a long time as the parish liturgical space. There is a modest chapel dedicated to Our lady of Lourdes, and there is no cemetery. The fervent believers gladly gather for larger celebrations on the occasions of holidays of patrons of parishes or cemeteries, such as St. Ivan Baptist in Trappist, St. Anto from Padova on Petrićevac, St. Ana in Rebrovac, Our Great Lady in Trappist. In recent times they have gathered for these celebrations in St. Bonaventure cathedral, St. Theresa of Jesus Child in Presnače, St. Marko at the town Catholic cemetery, and so on.
Every parish has produced, according to time of the existence, many spiritual vocations: priestly and monks. Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish and Petrićevac parish produced bishops, too. The latter produced two cardinals to the Holy Church. The monastic communities Religious vocations, male and female orders and communities are God's great gift to the local Church. They are all around the Diocese. Two male communities and three female communities are active in the town of Banja Luka. The monks are living in their communities according to their rules, residing in either houses or convents. Male communities are Franciscans and Trappists, and female communities are Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ and Benedictiens of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. FRANCISCANS, named for their founder St. Francis from Assize in Italia, had come to the former Bosnia by the end of 13th century. They had many monasteries in the region of the present Banja Luka Diocese in pre Turkish time: Jajce, Jezero, Greben (Krupa na Vrbasu), Livač (in Lijevče polje), Bihać, Otoka, Livno (in other words Bistrica), the site of the oldest Franciscan monastery in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and so on. After the destruction of the convents, FRANCISCANS have managed parishes in these areas, as long as there have been believers. Beginning in 1875, Franciscans have managed a monastery in the territory of Banja Luka town on Petrićevac, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. This monastery was destroyed and renovated many times. Although the monastery has suffered in the wars and earthquakes, the monks have succeeded in saving the monastery’s rich library. They are assisting the same named parish and some other friars that assist nearby parishes dwelling in the same monastery. Address: The same one as Petrićevac parish THE TRAPPIST monks are another ancient and rigorous church order. They came to our region, namely to Delibašino Selo near Banja Luka (which is today a part of Banja Luka) on June 21, 1869, guided by a Tyrolean monk, father Franz Pfanner. He established the well-known convent «Marija Zvijezda». The Trappist principle is: “pray and work”. By doing this, the Trappists have considerable influenced the development of this region on a religious, spiritual, economic, educational and charitable level. After World War I, they were the most powerful convent within their order. During World War II and later, they were left with only a very small number of members; their premises were nationalized and they were forced to survive on an absolute minimum. Today, they assist the parish of «Marija Zvijezda” that has been entrusted to them. The address of the convent of “Marija Zvijezda” is identical with that of the parish office of Marija Zvijezda. Among the female religious orders in the region, the oldest one is the community of Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Due to the color of their habits, people have labeled them the «white sisters», unlike the sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ, which, for the same reasons, have been called «black sisters». THE SISTERS OF CHARITY of St. Vincent de Paul in Banja Luka came in 1872 and established their convent in the center of town (in today's “Serbian street”). Other than their rather specific way of living, filled with prayer and work, they are especially dedicated to the upbringing of children and female adolescents. In that context, they used to run a highly respected primary school, which was attended not only by Catholics, but also children of other religious backgrounds and confessions. Also, until recently, they have been highly recommended and requested nurses. Exiled from their convent in 1995, they still have not returned there. Over the past few years, the convent itself got so rundown, that it became a danger for the passersby. For that reason, it was recently torn down and should be reconstructed soon. Meanwhile, two sisters of the community have started to work at Caritas of the Banja Luka diocese. Up to 1995, two others were active in the parish of Presnače. Then, one of them was murdered and the other one died a few years later. The address of the sisters
is at Caritas, since the convent was torn down:
THE SISTERS ADORERS OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST came to Budžak, a part of Banja Luka, in 1879, seven years after the Sisters of Charity. They founded the convent of «Nazaret», where they established a school and an orphanage and later a girls’ school in the center of Banja Luka (on the location of today’s “Chamber of the RS Military”). Many generations of Banja Luka girls have been educated there. The sisters also had a community in great proximity of that school, called «Marija Pomoćnica» and one in the Bishop’s ordinariate. Today, they only work in the ordinariate and reside in the convent of «Novi Nazaret» in Banja Luka. After World War II, the sisters were expelled from Bosnia and Herzegovina, their property was confiscated and the beautiful convent church torn down in 1950! Today, there are military barracks on that location. The sisters constructed a new convent on a new location in Budžak and named it «Novi Nazaret» after the previous convent, which is still functioning today. In the convent there is a small chapel, which, for a long time served as a replacement for the inexistent Budžak parish church. Other than working in Budžak, the sisters also work in the parish of Marija Zvijezda at the Trappist convent. In the Banja Luka region, the sisters used to live also in the monasteries of Bosanski Aleksandrovac and Nova Topola, from which they were expelled in 1995, when Serb refugees were allowed to move into their premises. Today, the monastery of Aleksandrovac is hosting a community of recovering drug addicts. The premises in Nova Topola were recently returned to the sisters, but will require large repairs before the sisters will be able to move in.
The third female religious order is the newest one. Two Benedictines of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who came to Presnače from Austria, recently replaced the two Sisters of Charity, who worked in the parish of Presnače until 1995. They are currently assisting the parish priest with his many different tasks and also do his housekeeping. The address of this community is identical with that of the parish house in Presnače.
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