Restoration of the Monastery

The Government of the Republic of Croatia returned Badija in 2003 to its owner – the Franciscan Province of St. Jerome, based in Zadar. Two years later, the Franciscans of Zadar ceded the monastery to the Franciscan Province of Herzegovina for 99 years. After more than 60 years of neglect and destruction of religious and cultural heritage, the monastery and church on Badija were found completely ransacked. The provincial of Zadar at the time, Father Bernardin Škunca OFM, together with the provincial of Herzegovina at the time, Father Slavko Soldo OFM, invites Father Jozo Zovko OFM to try to rebuild the monastery, thereby restoring it to its former splendour and its sense of being once more the spiritual and cultural centre of southern Dalmatia. The archaeological and conservational elaborations and projects to restore the monastery began in 2005. This was followed by construction work and the interior decoration of the monastery, after which the monastery got its full meaning – receiving pilgrims for spiritual retreats.