Uneasy Agents of Tridentine Reforms: Catholic Missionaries in Southern Ottoman Hungary and Their Local Competitors in the Early Seventeenth Century

Emese Muntán

doi:10.1515/jemc-2020-2020

Abstract

Abstract From the 1570s onwards, the territories of southern Ottoman Hungary with their amalgam of Orthodox, Catholics, Reformed, Antitrinitarians, and Muslims of various ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, were the focus of Rome–directed Catholic missionary and pastoral endeavors. Prior to the establishment of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in 1622, several Jesuits had already been active in the region and sought to implement Tridentine reforms in this religiously, linguistically, and legally-diverse setting. The activity of the Jesuits, however, was complicated by the presence of the Bosnian Franciscans, who were legally Ottoman subjects, and with whom the Jesuits were in a permanent competition over the jurisdiction of certain missionary territories. Furthermore, the Jesuits also had to contend with the local authority and influence of Orthodox priests and Ottoman judges (kadis), who, in several instances, proved to be more attractive “alternatives” to many Catholics than the Catholic authorities themselves. Drawing primarily on Jesuit and Franciscan missionary reports, this article examines how this peculiar constellation of local power relations, and the ensuing conflicts among missionaries, Orthodox clergymen, and Ottoman judges, influenced the way(s) in which Tridentine reforms were implemented in the area. In particular, this study addresses those cases where various jurisdictional disputes between Jesuits and Bosnian Franciscans on the one hand, and Jesuits and Orthodox priests on the other, resulted in contestations about the administration and validity of the sacraments and certain rituals, and led Jesuits, Franciscans, and even Roman authorities to “deviate” from the Tridentine norm.

Highlights

In the last couple of decades the role of Catholic missionaries in furthering the tenets of post–Tridentine Catholicism has been subjected to extensive scholarly scrutiny, with a predominant focus on the activity of the Jesuits and the Franciscans.[1]
Drawing primarily on Jesuit and Franciscan missionary reports, this article examines how this peculiar constellation of local power relations, and the ensuing conflicts among missionaries, Orthodox clergymen, and Ottoman judges, influenced the way(s) in which Tridentine reforms were implemented in the area
If one returns to the instructions that the Jesuits going to southern Ottoman Hungary received upon embarking on their missionary quest, one might notice that their activity was imagined as if it would happen in a “vacuum”, “tuning out” the actual local circumstances and power structures

Summary

Introduction

In the last couple of decades the role of Catholic missionaries in furthering the tenets of post–Tridentine Catholicism has been subjected to extensive scholarly scrutiny, with a predominant focus on the activity of the Jesuits and the Franciscans.[1]. To the Greek one, the Serbian Orthodox ecclesiastical hierarchy occupied a privileged political and economic position in the empire; collaborated closely with local Ottoman dignitaries, and continuously tried to harness this advantageous status to extend their jurisdiction over the local Catholics, by collecting taxes from them, and where possible, converting them This way Orthodox priests and vladikas (bishops) became the greatest rivals of the Bosnian Franciscans, since the territory of their province of Bosna Argentina (Srebrena) to a great extent overlapped with the area under the control of the Peć patriarchate.[38] From the middle of the sixteenth and throughout the seventeenth centuries, several sultanic decrees (fermans) and legal certificates (hüccets) were issued based on the many complaints made by the Bosnian Franciscans that the Orthodox priests, metropolitans, and bishops had been trying to collect taxes from them and their flocks.[39] This competition for jurisdiction over the local Catholic communities was further exacerbated by one more element.

Implementing Tridentine reforms in Southern

Conclusion