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

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.