Croatian military chaplains Marko Hummel and Ivan Kralj in the light of the archival records of the War Archives in Vienna

Abstract

Several archival records and documents in the War Archives in Vienna portray the life and work of military clergy in the Habsburg armed forces. The paper presents the life and work of military chaplains from the Diocese of Bosnia or Đakovo and Srijem, Croatia, Marko Hummel and Ivan Kralj, who worked and operated in the Habsburg armed forces. Marko Hummel joined the aforementioned armed forces in the mid-19th century and performed religious services until his retirement, while Ivan Kralj served in the army for a much shorter period of time, since he supposedly had trouble with his superiors and due to the circumstances he encountered in Petrovaradin (Peterwardein). The main purpose of the following paper is to cast some light on a part of the Croatian church history that is frequently forgotten and to hopefully motivate further research of the topic.