MILETIĆ, ACOSTINO. - Croatian Franciscan, born at Fojnica in Bosnia in 1763, died at Vidoši on 31 July 1831. He studied at Graz (Austria) and in the Veneto; he was professor of philosophy at Brescia and of theology at Padua. In 1803 he was consecrated titular bishop of Daulia and appointed apostolic vicar of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During that turbulent and troubled period of struggles and revolutions aimed at freeing the Balkan peoples from foreign domination, M. knew how to govern with singular skill for no fewer than 28 years his province, already sorely tried for centuries.
Christian virtues thus flourished anew among that people, for whose religious and civic education he wrote Abbecedario e breve spiegazione della dottrina cristiana (Spalato 1815; other eds. 1828, 1867, 1935). He established discipline and intensified the pastoral work of the clergy, among other things collecting and publishing the Disposizioni ed ordinazioni dei precedenti e dell'attuale vescovo e vicario apostolato (Spalato 1818; 7th ed. there, 1828). Worn out by his apostolic labours, he died with a reputation for sanctity, while posterity rightly bestowed upon him the title of apostle of Bosnia.