Miroslav Bulešić

Miroslav Bulešić (13 May 1920 – 24 August 1947) was a Croatian Catholic priest. He studied in Rome before being recalled to his native Istria where he was ordained in 1943 during World War II prior to two parish postings where he became a vocal critic of communism. He renewed his parishes through well-organized pastoral activities and was a promoter of frequent sacramental reception. But his criticism of communism saw him make enemies who soon killed him.

He was beatified in Pula, Croatia on 28 September 2013 on the recognition of the fact that he was killed in odium fidei ("in hatred of the faith"); Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the beatification on the behalf of Pope Francis.

Life

Miroslav Bulešić was born on 13 May 1920 in Zabroni (Čabrunići) – a village in Istria, at that time in the Kingdom of Italy. He was born to father Miha Bulešić and mother Lucija Butković. His siblings were sisters Maria, Lucija and Zora and brother Beppo.

Bulešić's interventions in parish life made church events more attractive to people and he introduced adorations to the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the parish; he encouraged parishioners to recite rosaries together and to receive the sacraments on a frequent basis more so for the children. But the Communists wanted to prevent the faithful from attending Masses and so introduced civil weddings and funerals but people still continued to attend the Masses and listen to their popular priest's homilies. In 1946, some Yugoslav communists were watching people file into the parish and realized that the priest had to be killed for them to exert control over the people.

Beatification

The process of beatification began under Pope John Paul II on 10 August 1992 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the nihil obstat ("nothing against" the cause) and titled him as a Servant of God – it was the first official stage in the process. There was an effort to commence the cause in 1956 but the Communists banned this and so an informative process had opened in Rome in 1957 before the cause was transferred to the forum of Poreč-Pula on 28 March 2000 while the diocesan investigation took place.