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Christianity in Croatia

The Croatian people originally lived in the Carpathian region (W. Ukraine) and in the early 600s migrated to their present homeland in the Balkans on the eastern coast of the Adriatic sea. They were evangelised and baptised by priests from Rome in the 600s, and therefore became part of the Latin-speaking western Catholic church centred in Rome (as opposed to the eastern Orthodox church with its headquarters at Constantinople).

The initial "conversion" of the Croats probably focused on the elite, and it was only during the course of later phases of Christianisation that the Croats were fully Christianised. Reorganisation of church jurisdictions under the Franks brought the Croatian church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchal see of Aquileia. 

Croatia became a kingdom in 925 and fought wars with Bulgaria. Croatia reached its height under king Petar Kresimir IV (1058-1074/5). In the 1102, Croatia and Hungary were ruled by the Hungarian king Coloman. Croatia was invaded by the Mongols in the 1200s. Venice took over the region in 1420. 

The Croatians were defeated in battle against the Ottoman Turks in 1493. They turned to the Habsburgs (Austria) for support against Ottoman attack, and, from 1527, Croatians voted to be ruled by the Habsburg (Austria) monarch. For a brief time, under Napoleon, Croatia was under French rule, and was later integrated into the Austro-Hungarian empire from 1815.  

In the early phase of the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s, the teachings of Martin Luther and others reached Slovenia and Croatia. However, as a result of the Counter-Reformation, many Croatian Protestants had to flee their homeland from 1530s onwards. Although the Protestant movement was eradicated in Croatia, it did leave its mark, for example with the translation of the Bible by the institute at Urach. Also, leading Croatian scholars such as Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Andreas Dudithius (Dudić), Paulus Skalic (Paulus Scalichius, Pavao Skalić) made a major contribution to the Reformation in exile. Protestantism was formally banned by the Croatian parliament in 1604.

There were Lutheran congregations among German and Slovak settlers in the 1700s and 1800s. The Reformed Christian Calvinist Church traces its roots back to the Reformed Church of Hungary. In the late 1800s, various "free churches" formed indigenous Croatian congregations. The first Baptist congregations began in the 1890s in Zagreb and Daruvar. Also Nazarenes. 

In 1918, Croatia became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Between the world wars, a leading figure was evangelist Vinko Vacek (Baptist).

After 1945, in Yugoslavia under Tito (a Croatian), Protestant churches continued as a beleaguered minority. Following Croatian independence in 1991, Protestant churches have enjoyed some measure of recognition. In a total population of just under 4 million, there are currently an estimated 10 thousand evangelical believers (0.25%). 

Sources

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-journey-of-croatian-protestantism-from-struggle-to-future-survival/

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