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Today, the Tomislavgrad parish is the central and largest parish of the Duvanj deanery. It was created in 1828 by dividing the ancient parish of Duvno with its seat in Seonica. The border between the parishes ran along the line from Kovač to Manda Gradina.
At first, the parish priests lived in the village of Mokronogama, so the parish was also called that. Since 1861, its seat has been in Tomislavgrad, on a position above the present-day Orthodox church. The parish priests lived there until the construction of the monastery in 1940. The first church was built next to the old parish house (1861-65). The majestic basilica in Tomislavgrad was built over fifteen years (1924-1940) under the leadership of priest Fr. Mija Čuić. It was built on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the coronation of King Tomislav (925 – 1925), who was believed to have been crowned in 925 on Tobacco Field.
The Croatian people from the Homeland and the world participated in the construction. The church and monastery were heavily damaged during the Second World War. After that, they were renovated: first, basic protection and renovation in 1957, and then a thorough renovation of both the church and the monastery from 1980 to 1987.
The following settlements belong to the parish: Tomislavgrad, Srđani, Oplećani, Vedašić, Letka, Sarajlije, Kuk, Luk, Mokronoge, Eminovo Selo, Buhovo, Blažuj, Kolo, Podgaj, Jošanica, Stipanjići, Kovači and Tubolja. Today, about 8,500 Catholics live in the parish.
Throughout history, monasteries have always been strong strongholds of Christianity and great sources of all kinds of progress in a region - especially spiritual, but no less material and cultural as well. In addition, in the case of Duvno, an ecclesiastical-strategic reason played an important role for the Franciscan Province of Herzegovina: one monastery had to be founded in the northern parts of the province and diocese, since all three remaining monasteries (Široki Brijeg, Mostar and Humac) were in the southern region of Herzegovina. Also, the strong growth of the population in the Duvan area daily encouraged the Franciscan administration in Mostar to think more and more about the new monastery in Duvan. Of course, the historical reason was not unimportant either, more precisely, the belief that there was a monastery in Duvna before the Turkish conquests and destruction, and that it was destroyed then. Although this information about the monastery on Blažuj (which would have been destroyed by the Turks) is not entirely certain, it is still possible, because it is recorded in reliable historical sources that at the beginning of the existence of the Bosnian Franciscan Vicarage, one custody was called Duvanjsko - and it would be strange that custody which in it would not have a monastery in its center. In addition, at that time it was the seat of a Catholic diocese.
However, the construction of the monastery in Duvno, despite all the above-mentioned important reasons for its construction, would have remained just an idea or a dead letter for a long time if there had not been a strong personality in Duvno (then Županjac, since 1928 Tomislavgrad), who would to start realizing the very idea and desire of the Franciscans and their people. It was Brother Mijo Čuić, himself a native of Duvnjak, the parish priest of Duvan for many years (1914 - 1936), who would be the main organizer and bearer of all projects in the parish during the interwar period. He is the builder of the magnificent basilica in Duvanje, the initiator of the construction of the Franciscan monastery and Tomislav's home with a reading room. In addition to being the parish priest and dean of Duvanje, Fr. Mijo was also a member of the Province's administration, so he was able to influence the making of key decisions. Work on the monastery began in 1930, after the foundation stone was laid on August 10 of that year. But soon they were stopped because the ground was underwater. In addition, the parish was already exhausted by the construction of the memorial basilica, so there was simply no money for the monastery. Therefore, the Franciscan Province, led by the great provincial Fr. Mata Čutura, took care of the construction of the monastery, who perfectly understood the need for a Franciscan monastery in the north of the province and diocese. According to an old plan, in the beginning the monastery - according to the plan of Engineer Podhorski - was not conceived as it would actually be built. Namely, the "towers" at all four corners of the monastery and the square, not rectangular, shape of the monastery are visible. In any case, the work on the construction of the monastery, according to the new (or at least different) plan, continued only in 1938.
In the evening hours of 07.05.2013. the Franciscan Museum was officially opened “Fra Jozo Križić” in Tomislavgrad. It was a valuable and important cultural step in the area of the tobacco region. Various folklore groups from Sarajevo, Roško Polje, Brišnik, Tomislavgrad in folk costumes sang ganga and bećarac. Along with the guardian, Br. Anta Pranjić, are Father Provincial M. Šteko, Vicar of Bosna Srebrena M. Karaula, director of the gallery and lecturer at Š. Brijeg V. Karačić, about fifteen friars and č. sisters, head I. Vukadin, minister P. Galić, prof. R. Dodig, representatives of the Livan museum, media, etc. A large crowd of local people and guests gathered. They couldn't fit in the hall, so we started the program on the extension in front of the museum. Along with appropriate speeches by the guard, the minister, the chief, there are also musical performances by our students. After the official opening of the museum, a very pleasant reception followed in the hall until late in the warm summer night.
The museum is located in a house that was built by the Duvanje Franciscans in 1988, and was intended for religious education, meetings of young people and cultural events. Numerous archaeological and ethnological objects were kept inside the house, which the friars diligently collected for many years. The objects were not available to the public, so there was a long time ago the idea of arranging the museum space. Finally, the guardian Fr. Ante Pranjić, with great financial efforts and the help of Eng. B. Petric, had the museum space on the first floor of the house designed, and together with expert museum workers from Sarajevo, selected and put together a permanent museum display with five museum collections: archaeological, sacral, ethnological , ethnographic, African with a part of philately and numismatics. He named the museum in honor of Friar Jozo Križić, a Franciscan from Tuvan.
Fra Jozo Križić(1951-1993). He was born on August 15, 1951 in Roško Polje, and died on January 9, 1993 in Tomislavgrad. He spent all his free time collecting and arranging the monastery's museum collection with very diverse and valuable things. He collected more than 3,000 objects to snatch from oblivion what belonged to the soul and life of his people. One could say that he dreamed of the Franciscan Museum in Duvno. Franjevački muzej fra Jozo Križić he wants at least part of the past not to go into oblivion. He wants to connect the tobacco past with the present and shed some light on the future. If he succeeds in this, he will fulfill his role and effort in the creation and opening of this museum.
The objects exhibited at this exhibition are part of the African collection of the Museum of the Franciscan Monastery in Tomislavgrad. They were collected during the missionary work of the Franciscans from Tomislavgrad in Congo, where they have been present for more than forty years. The diverse culture and traditions of this third largest African country have for many years captured the attention of ordinary people as well as experts and scientists from all over the world. Traditional Congolese society is clan-based, and the basic activity of the population is agriculture and gathering. Accordingly, at the basis of all the beliefs of the people living in the Congo is a connection with and reliance on nature, and the connection between the living and their deceased ancestors. An equally important role in the beliefs of the indigenous population is the role of magic and sorcerers, who have a role to positively influence the lives of people who believe in them. The presented items are divided into seven groups, namely: fetishes; music and musical instruments; missionary work; ivory and malachite; weapons, tools, hunting and fishing; objects for use in everyday life, during rituals and objects representing status symbols and masks.
Fetishes are small sculptures and represent good and evil spirits, with which sorcerers heal, ensure a good harvest or catch, which is still, at least when it comes to treatment, a more common way of treatment in traditional African society than treatment with conventional medicine. Objects made of ivory and malachite are mostly made as carvings or as part of jewelry, and the exhibition presents the most representative examples of this collection, such as carved elephant tusks, crosses, animal figurines, and female figures made of ivory.
Missionaries are represented by items that talk about the activities of the Franciscans in the Congo, their efforts to help and improve the lives of the Congolese natives. Since 1971, Croatian missionaries from Herzegovina have been working in the Congo: Br. Blago Brkić, Br. Ante Ivanković, Br. Ante Kutleša, Br. Filip Sučić, Br. Pero Čuić, Br. Stojan Zrno and Br. Jozo Vasilj, improving religious, educational, humanitarian and many other parts of life people in the missions in which they operate. Crucifixes, translations of the Bible and other texts of religious content are part of the subjects presented in this group.
Music and musical instruments are an inseparable part of the life of the African population. Traditional music, dance and rituals at this exhibition are reflected in traditional instruments such as the sanza and the African harp, as well as in figurines of players of many traditional instruments and testify to the number of musical instruments, their differences compared to the instruments we are familiar with.
Masks need to be seen in the context of their meaning and purpose. Although some of them are of exceptional beauty, they acquire a completely different value when viewed through the eyes of the natives, because the natives include in their understanding and function of objects and the meaning these objects have in different parts of the life of this population.
