Josip Stadler

Stadler was born in Slavonski Brod in the Habsburg Monarchy (present-day Croatia). His parents, Đuro and Marija (née Balošić) were hatmakers. Early in life, he lost both parents. He was taken care of by the Oršić family. He started his education in Slavonski Brod, and continued it, under the patronage of cardinal Juraj Haulik, in Požega and Zagreb where he attended gymnasium. In Rome he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University where he attained a doctorate in philosophy and theology.[2][3]

Stadler was ordained a priest in Rome on June 6, 1868, after which he returned to Zagreb where he worked as a professor at a seminary and later a university professor at the Catholic Faculty of Theology of the University of Zagreb.[2]

In 1881, the Catholic Church hierarchy in Bosnia and Herzegovina was reinstated after nearly seven centuries, when the last bishop of Bosnia was evicted by Bosnian ban Matej Ninoslav and left Bosnia for Đakovo.[4] Pope Leo XIII named Stadler as the first archbishop of Vrhbosna in Sarajevo. Under his direction, the Cathedral of Jesus' Heart was built, along with the seminary and church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. In Travnik he helped build the gymnasium and seminary, as well as many churches and women's seminaries throughout the country.

Stadler founded the women's order of the Servants of the Infant Jesus with the intention of helping impoverished and abandoned children and others. He sent a plea to Vienna, to Franziska Lechner to send nuns to Sarajevo. He formed the orphanages Betlehem and Egipat for children and a home for the elderly.[5]

Stadler died in Sarajevo on the feast day of the Assumption of Mary in his 75th year. He was succeeded by archbishop Ivan Šarić. Stadler was buried in Sarajevo Cathedral.[6]

During Pope John Paul II's visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 12 April 1997 the pope prayed at Stadler's grave.[7] The process for Stadler's canonization began in Sarajevo on 20 June 2002.[8]

Following is a partial list of works authored by archbishop Stadler:[9]

• Logika, Zagreb, 1871
• Poslovice: pučka mudrost, Danica for the year 1873, Zagreb, 1872
• Theologia fundamentalis: tractatus de vera religione, de vera Christi Ecclesia et de Romano Pontifice complectens, Zagreb, 1880
• Theologia fundamentalis: tractatus de traditione, Scriptura et analysi fidei complectens, Sarajevo, 1884
• Filosofija u 6 svezaka [Philosophy in 6 volumes]
• I. Logika, dio prvi: Dijalektika [Logic, Part One: Dialectics], 1904
• II. Logika, dio drugi: Kritika ili noetika [Logic, Part Two: Criticism or Noetics], 1905
• III. Opća metafisika ili ontologija [General Metaphysics or Ontology], 1907
• IV. Kosmologija [Cosmology], 1909
• V. Psihologija [Psychology], 1910
• VI. Naravno bogoslovlje [Natural Theology], 1915

• Antun Mahnić
• Ivan Merz