Pavao Posilović OFM (c. 1597 – c. 1656/57) was a Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Croatian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Duvno from 1655 to his death in 1658.
Previously, he served as the bishop of Skradin from 1642 to 1655 and from 1644, he was entrusted with the pastoral care of the Catholics in several dioceses under the Ottoman rule.
Around 1620, he was sent to Italy for further education, where he studied philosophy and theology at the Franciscan General College in Perugia, Ancona and other Italian cities.
The provincial Martin Nikolić informed the Congregation that the Province would financially sustain the new bishop, while Lučić wrote them on 14 August 1641 informing them that he would be glad if Posilović would be appointed the bishop because due to the distance and harsh terrain and his old age, he would be unable to care for the Catholics of the Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina.
[5] On 11 May 1644, the Congregation entrusted him the pastoral care over the Catholics of the dioceses of Makarska, Duvno, Krbava, Zadar, Nin, Trogir, Zagreb and the Archdiocese of Split who found themselves under the Ottoman rule.
To resolve his residential issues, Posilović travelled to Rome in the summer of 1645 but was unable to return due to the outbreak of the Cretan War between the Venetians and the Ottomans.
[8] Posilović remained in Rome until 15 October 1646, when the Congregation, with the approval from the pope, ordered him to return to Illyria (the territory of the Southern Slavs) for the promotion of the Catholic faith.
While staying in Rome, Posilović translated Fiore di virtù into Croatian language under the title Cvijet od kriposti duhovni i tilesnije prikoristan svakomu virnomu krsjaninu, koji ga šti često.
To save the Catholic populace from these disputes, the Congregation decided to form an interim apostolic vicariate for the territory between the rivers Sava and Drava.
Based on this agreement, the Congregation decided on 28 November 1650 that Posilović could reside in the Rama friary, with an annual support of 100 scudos and that he could perform rites only with permission from the local ordinary.
However, at the end of the year, Maravić broke the agreement and requested Posilović's removal from the Rama friary and a ban on performing episcopal duties.
[11] According to some testimonies, which Mandić dated to the period of Marijan Lišnjić and Nikola Bijanković, the bishops of Makarska who administered the Diocese of Duvno, the Franciscans of Rama expelled Posilović from the friary.
However, Mandić excludes such a possibility, proposing that Posilović was banished from the friary by the Ottomans, the governor of the Bosnia Eyalet specifically.