The Franciscans came to Mostar in the 14th century. In the 15th century they built a church and monastery in Mostar. But the conquering Ottoman Turks destroyed both buildings in 1563 and dumped the executed Franciscans into the Neretva. But, in spite of everything, the Franciscans though at the cost of danger to their lives, further served the spiritual needs of the Mostar region. They did that first from Zivogosce on the sea and after the war of Vienna (1683) from Kresevo in Bosnia. In the mid 19th century conditions were created for re-establishing the Catholic Parish in Mostar (1849).
