Josip Stadler

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Josip Stadler (January 24, 1843 - December 8, 1918) was a Croatian priest, the first modern archbishop of Vrhbosna and the founded of the religious order of the Servants of the Infant Jesus (Croatian: Služavke Maloga Isusa). He is a candidate for sainthood.

Stadler was born in Slavonski Brod in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary in what is today modern Croatia. Early in life he lost his parents. He was taken care of by the Oršić family. He started his education in Slavonski Brod, and continued it in Požega and Zagreb where he attended gymnasium. In Rome he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University where he attained a doctorate in philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest in Rome in 1868 and returned to Zagreb. He was a gymnasium professor at a seminary and later a university professor at the Catholic Theology Faculty in Zagreb.

In 1881, the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina was reformed after hundreds of years of obstructive Ottoman-rule. Pope Leo XIII named Stadler as the first archbishop of Vrhbosna in Sarajevo. He worked in faith, culture and national fields. Under his direction, the Cathedral of Jesus' Heart was built, along with the seminary and church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. In Travnik he helped build the gymnasium and seminary, as well as many churches and women's seminaries throughout the country.

He founded the women's order of the Servants of the Infant Jesus with the intention of helping impoverished and abandoned children and others. He sent a plea to Vienna, to Franziska Lechner to send nuns to Sarajevo. These nuns came and helped the poor as well as taught in the city's schools. He formed the orphanages Betlehem and Egipat for children and a home for the elderly.

Stadler was especially reverent to Corpus Christi, which he made the feast of the archdiocese. He was also very faithful to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. He died in Sarajevo in his 75th year on the feast day of the Assumption. He was succeed by Ivan Šarić. Stadler was buried in Sarajevo's cathedral. During Pope John Paul II's visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on April 12, 1997 the pope prayed at Stadler's grave.

The process for his canonization began in Sarajevo on June 20, 2002.