Jerusalem, (IKA) – On March 29, a commemorative plaque in honor of Croats from Bosnia, Pavao, Jakov and Antun Branković, was unveiled in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem 333 years after they purchased this Christian holy place from Turkish Muslim owners and entrusted it to the Franciscans in the Holy Land.
The commemorative plaque marks the site of Jesus’ agony, passion and mortal sweat, which the Branković brothers kept in Christian hands by purchasing it and donating it to the Franciscans. The significance of the purchase contract, signed on May 12, 1681, was discussed by several speakers on the occasion of the unveiling of the plaque. Archbishop Vinko Cardinal Puljić of Sarajevo said in his sermon during a Mass celebrated in the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane that Croats feel at home in this place, “both in this land but also in the historical connection. It is important that we know how to preserve our heritage and roots.” He noted that today the problem is that our creators of history often want to erase memory: “Therefore, this act is not political but religious and devout. The Blessed Pope Paul VI said that a religion that does not build a culture is not a religion. We want to preserve and remember our heritage, and transmit it to our descendants.”

The Custos of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, noted that Sarajevo and Jerusalem are two sister cities that over the centuries shared the same fate and a similar religious composition of their populations. Bosnia and Jerusalem were part of the same Ottoman Empire. However, despite this, the Church succeeded in preserving their Christian character. “We are not here to celebrate an event from the past because the past represents the root of the future. The bond among Bosnia, Sarajevo and Jerusalem is permanent and very clearly visible here. We share the same religion and the same roots. We Franciscans guarantee to you that our task shall continue to be to keep our bond alive.”
Mayor Ivo Komšić of Sarajevo wrote in a letter on the occasion of this commemoration: “Through the Branković brothers, Sarajevo and the Bosnian Franciscan Province obtained their place, their spiritual habitat in the Holy Land, the place of Jesus’ anguish and prayer, and the determination to fulfill the law and God’s will.”
The President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Živko Budimir, called the achievement of the Branković brothers an act of charity that will be remembered forever and added that their example shows that one good deed gives birth to another. President Budimir also wrote: “Precisely because we bear within us the heritage of love, we should not fear. Bosnia will exist as long as charitable hearts beat within us. Herzegovina will exist as long as the power of contrition flows within us.”
The ceremony of the unveiling of the commemorative plaque was attended by the Apostolic Nuncio in Israel, Msgr. Giuseppe Lazzarotto; the Military Bishop in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Msgr. Tomo Vukšić; the Provincial of the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena (Bosna Argentina), Fra Lovro Gavran; several Croatian religious and priests serving in the Holy Land, and approximately twenty priests and 200 pilgrims from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The initiator of the installation of the commemorative plaque is Fra Tomislav Glavnik.