Diocese of Trebinje-Mrkan Dioecesis Tribuniensis-Marcanensis Trebinjsko-mrkanska biskupija | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country |  Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia |
| Ecclesiastical province | Vrhbosna |
| Metropolitan | Vrhbosna |
| Deaneries | TrebinjeStolac |
| Headquarters | Trebinje |
| Statistics | |
| Population - Total | (as of 2019) 17,412 |
| Parishes | 15 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 10th century |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Birth of Mary |
| Patron saint | Archangel Michael |
| Secular priests | 28 |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Tomo Vukšić |
| Apostolic Administrator | Petar Palić |
| Map | |
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The Diocese of Trebinje-Mrkan (Latin: Diocesis Tribuniensis-Marcanensis) is a particular church of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Established in the 10th century, is the oldest Catholic diocese in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the number of faithful, it is also the smallest. Its seat is in Trebinje.
The Diocese of Trebinje was established in the 10th century, and by the end of the century, it became a suffragan diocese of the newly established Archdiocese of Dubrovnik. In the mid 13th century, the Eastern Orthodox Serbian King Stefan Uroš I expelled its bishop Salvio, who took refuge in the Republic of Ragusa. Due to the anti-Catholicism of the Serbian kings, it was impossible to appoint the new residential bishop, so the territory of the Diocese of Trebinje was taken care of by the bishop of Kotor. At the end of the 13th or at the beginning of the 14th century, the Republic of Ragusa gave its islands of Mrkan, Bobara and Supetar to the bishop of Trebinje, and the first recorded usage of the joint title of "the bishop of Trebinje and Mrkan" was recorded in 1322. The Holy See regards the Diocese of Trebinje and the Diocese of Mrkan as the two dioceses canonically unified ever since. Since that time, the two dioceses were administered mostly from Dubrovnik and less from Mrkan. With the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina and fall of Herzegovina in the late 15th century, part of the territory of the Diocese of Trebinje–Mrkan fell to the Ottomans. Since then, the bishops of Trebinje–Mrkan had to receive a special firman from the Ottoman sultans for free activity on the Ottoman part of their diocese.
With Austrians taking Dalmatia and Dubrovnik in 1815, they tried to impose their influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the death of the last residential bishop Nikola Ferić, the Austrians, with their diplomatic efforts, managed to put the Diocese of Trebinje–Mrkan under the indefinite administration of the bishops of Dubrovnik in 1839. And again, thanks to the diplomatic efforts from the Austria-Hungary that occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the administration over the Diocese of Trebinje–Mrkan was given to the bishops of Mostar-Duvno in 1890, who administer the Diocese of Trebinje–Mrkan to the present-day. Today, the Diocese of Trebinje–Mrkan is divided into two deaneries – one seated in Trebinje and the other in Stolac. The current apostolic administrator is Petar Palić who was installed in 2020.