Lovro Karaula

Who was Lovro Karaula?

Lovro Karaula was a Croatian friar from Bosnia.

He was born in 1800 near Livno. He entered the Franciscan order in 1816. He was educated in Fojnica and in Hungary. He served as a secretary to bishop Augustin Miletić, as well as being a parish priest.

He soon rose to become an important figure in the region's Franciscan Province. Karaula is well known for the rebuilding of churches and the construction of schools. He received permission for building the first church by making a direct request to sultan Abd-ul-Mejid I in Istanbul.

However, the renaissance of the Catholic Church in the country soon came to the attention of the local Ottoman officials who had kept the church under severe restraint for centuries. For this he was murdered by Turks in 1875. Only three years after his death Ottoman rule ended, and a great reform of the church in Bosnia and Herzegovina brought about a new freedom.