Speaker
Description
This senior thesis deals with the immergence of the Catholic community in Bulgaria and its state and development within the boundaries of modern Bulgaria. There are three major stages of the development of the community. The first stage is the immergence of the community in the 17th c. and its development under Ottoman rule when Franciscan missionaries started converting the small religious sect of Paulicians both in North and South Bulgaria. The next stage of the community’s development is within modern Bulgaria. First, South Bulgaria was part of Eastern Rumelia where religious and ethnic minorities had more rights in terms of representation in the government and the establishment of educational institutions. In the Tsardom of Bulgaria, the Catholics no longer had representatives in the central authority, however the fact that tsar Ferdinand I was a Catholic gave them certain privileges in terms of sponsorship of social institutions such as hospitals and orphanages. The third stage of development of the community was under the communist regime. While the religious institutions were not banned, they were heavily persecuted, and their activity was hindered by the state confiscating their property and driving their followers away. Furthermore, the Catholics suffered a heavy blow in the 1950s when the regime tried and executed several Catholic priests that had been accused of espionage and preparation for armed rebellion. A case in point is the village of Zhitnitsa, previously named Hambarlii, and how it developed since its first mentioning in Ottoman registers from the 16-17th centuries. Named as one of the core Catholic settlements in South Bulgaria, it developed as a chiflik at first where Paulicians settled and lived with Muslims and Orthodox Christians. After the liberation of Bulgaria and the establishment of Eastern Rumelia, only Catholics remained in the village. Missions of priests from different orders maintained the religiosity of the community. However, the communist regime restricted the activity of the Catholic priests and although not forbidden going to the church was not advisable, which disrupted the tradition of people of all ages visiting the temple.
Key words: Catholic, Paulicians, South Bulgaria, Tsardom of Bulgaria, Communist Bulgaria
