Josip Juraj Strossmayer a Shepherd of Souls in His Diocese

U ovom radu želim dati prikaz Strossmayerova pastoralnog djelovanja u prvim godinama njegove biskupske službe, odnosno u vrijeme koje je prethodilo i neposredno slijedilo njegovu političku aktivnost kao velikog virovitičkog župana. To je njegov veličanstven nastup u javnosti 1850. kod preuzimanja uprave biskupije, 1851. njegovo imenovanje za apostolskog administratora Katoličke crkve u Srbiji, prihvaćanje priključenja Hrvatskoj crkvenoj pokrajini na čelu sa Zagrebačkom nadbiskupijom, prvi pothvati na pastoralnom polju u biskupiji, dovođenje prvih redovnica u biskupiju, reformu odgoja i studija u Bogoslovnom sjemeništu. Otvaranje Konvikta sv. Bonaventure 1854. godine za odgoj i obrazovanje mladih bosanskih franjevaca te njegov prvi kanonski posjet ad limina 1859. papi Piju IX. i početak teškog pothvata spašavanja hrvatskog nacionalnog Kaptola u Rimu te, kao važan dio njegova pastoralnog djelovanja, njegova zauzetost za jedinstvo kršćanaIn this paper I would like to give a survey of the Strossmayer pastoral acitivity in the first years of his service as bishop i.e. in the time that preceded and immediately followed his political activity as the great district prefect. It was his magnificent speech in public in 1850 during the Chancery take-over, in 1851 his appointment to an apostolic administrator of the Catholic Church in Serbia, the acceptance of his joining the Croatian church province led by the Zagreb archdiocese, the first efforts on a pastoral field in the diocese, bringing the first nuns in the diocese, educational and study reform in the seminary. The opening of the St. Bonaventure convent school for education of young Bosnian Franciscans in 1854 and his first canon visit ad limina to the Pope Pio IX in 1859 and the beginning of such achievement to rescue the Croatian national chapter in Rome and finally as an important part of his pastoral activity, his engagement for the unity of Christians