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The pride of the Banja Luka Church In its long history, the Catholic Church of Banja Luka bred a large number of prominent characters, among which bishops, Franciscan provincials, missionaries, regular priests, nuns and a large number of believing laymen, thereby enriching the whole Church. Among those characters, there were a few emerging ones, such as the bishop of Belgrade, Fra Matej Benlić (1651-1674) as well as, according to some historians, Fra Tomo Ivković, the bishop of Skradin and apostolic administrator of the Bosnian diocese (1625-1631) and later apostolic vicar in Bosnia (1631-1633). Other than that, the parish of Petrićevac, a Banja Luka suburb, is the birthplace of Cardinal Guido Del Mestri, Bosnian Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljić and Bishop-ordinary Monsignor Franjo Komarica. Banja Luka also bred the well-known and enlightened educator Fra Ivan Franjo Jukić, the Franciscan provincial Fra Franjo Miletić and a number of priests prosecuted by the communist regime, martyrs from past and present times. However, the Banja Luka Church is proudest of its layman and honorable servant of God, Ivan Merz, the first beatified member of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina. All those men left the shining imprint of their lives and bright trace in the history of the Catholic Church and the town of Banja Luka.
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