Narodni ratnici u Božijim vinogradima: Političko katoličanstvo i problem militantnog klera u fašističkoj Hrvatskoj
People’s Warriors in God’s Vineyards: Political Catholicism and Issue of Militant Priests in the Fascist Croatia

Summary/Abstract: This article provides an insight into the ambiguous relationship between Catholicism and the Ustasha regime and the synthesis between religion and fascist ideology through the analysis of the “warrior priest”, a militant village priest presented in the promotion of the Independent State of Croatia as a representative of the new revolutionary clergy with Ustasha values. On one level, the warrior-priest archetype was intended to emphasize the unity of church and state; at the same time, however, he highlighted the conflict between organized religion and the secular values of the state. In their sometimes violent confrontations with state officials, warrior priests showed that they were not bound by either state or church discipline, and that their behaviour would not be limited by their church status. Although warrior priests are usually portrayed as a disciplined and heroic, in practice the synthesis of crusading Catholicism, Ustasha values and aggressive tendencies of these hardline nationalist recruits produced a renegade contingent of priests that threatened to destabilize the state from within.

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