Petar Čule (18 February 1898 – 29 July 1985) was a prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Mostar-Duvno and of apostolic administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan from 1942 until his retirement in 1980.

Serving as bishop during World War II, Čule was an opponent of the Ustaše regime in the Independent State of Croatia, helping to save the persecuted Serbs and political dissidents.

A notable student from an early age, after finishing elementary education in Ljuti Dolac near Široki Brijeg, he enrolled at the Jesuit gymnasium in Travnik.

The Franciscans, who by the papal Decisia of 1899 had lost the care of over half of the parishes but still made up the vast majority of the clergy, wanted to preserve the dominance of their Province.

In 1942, after Mišić's death, Čule was appointed bishop, with great opposition from the Franciscans and the fascist Ustaše government of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

He retired in 1980, and due to his contribution to the local church, Pope John Paul II named him the titular archbishop of Giufi.

[1][2][3] As a child, Čule couldn't start speaking for a long time[2] and between ages 4 and 5, he suffered from malaria and would often faint, barely surviving.

However, his father, advised by his late cousin who served as a parish priest in Blagaj, was determined to send young Čule to the Jesuit gymnasium in Travnik.

[18][19] Since Kruševo still wasn't a parish nor it had a church, Čule held his first mass at the local Sajmište cemetery, where his mother, who died in 1919, was buried.

[21] However, the rector of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Sarajevo Antun Prešern managed to arrange a place for Čule at the Jesuit Collegium Canisianum in Innsbruck, Austria.

[23] As a religious teacher and prefect of the dormitory, Čule actively worked with the youth and their parents, accomplishing good results which were noted by the gymnasium, which in 1926 offered him the professorship of philosophy and French.

In the preface of his books, Čule said they were published in "unphilosophical time" in which there was "a fierce campaign against the tradition and authority led by rationalism and modern subjectivism".

[26] The Franciscans, who by the papal Decisia of 1899 had lost the care of over half of the parishes but still made up the vast majority of the clergy, wanted to preserve the dominance of their Province.

[33] Mišić cared little about his clergy, ordaining only 28 diocesan priests and later limiting the number of Herzegovinian candidates in 1939 at the Seminary in Travnik to only 33,[34][35] possibly under the influence of the Franciscans.

These accusations included Franciscans dealing with worldly affairs, involvement with the violent events during the war, and disobedience to the Church authority.

[47] The papal delegate Ramiro Marcone invited Čule in mid-May 1945 to Zagreb, where he informed him that he had been appointed bishop on 15 April 1942 and asked him for his consent.

At the time, the Department of Religion at the said Ministry was headed by the Herzegovinian Franciscan Radoslav Glavaš, who participated in the making of the protest note.

[51] After his consecration, the Grand Župan of Hum, an administrative unit of the NDH, Josip Troyer, warned him not to dare to touch the Franciscans.

[54] Čule, like his predecessor Mišić, with several other priests, including Leo Petrović, intervened to save the Serbs, Jews and the Yugoslav Partisans from the persecution of the Ustaše government.

[58] On 10 April 1944, on the third anniversary of the establishment of the NDH, the Ustaše government massively issued decorations to many dignitaries and officials, including the clergy.

[60] Such decorations were given to Čule and many other Catholic prelates, including Stepinac, Šarić, Antun Akšamović, Mihovil Pušić, Kvirint Klement Bonefačić.

[52] Instructed by Pavelić, the new Grand Župan of Hum Đuro Spužević, informed Čule that he will be transferred to Trebinje when the war is over.

The next day, the accused bishop had breakfast in his dining room with the renegade Neđo Markotić.2) In the Kršćanska obitelj magazine, with the dirtiest slanders, that what the German beasts have done, he attributed to the Soviet people and their famous Red Army as if they were not far from Smolensk in Katyn Forest, killed 12,000 Polish officers.

On 22 April 1948, while Čule was preparing for the morning Mass at 5 AM, a group of State Security (UDBA) officers arrived to search the Episcopal Ordinariate building.

[74] Čule's deputy, general vicar of the diocese of Mostar-Duvno and Trebinje Mrkan Andrija Majić strongly attacked such state-sponsored clerical associations.

[76] The American bishops, urged by Nuncio Joseph Patrick Hurley, asked the President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to intervene on Čule's behalf.

[71] On 29 October 1955, the prison secretary Vojo Čolović informed Čule that he would be released, even though "he hasn't improved", and would be transferred to the Franciscan friary in Tolisa.

[78] While there, he wrote a letter to Josip Broz Tito, the President of Yugoslavia, in which he criticised the trial against him and harsh treatment he received while in prison.

The death of the prefect of the Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome Juraj Magjerac led the Auxiliary Bishop of Zagreb Josp Lach to the funeral in Rome.

In the same year, on 14 September, Bishop Čule retired, and Pope John Paul II named him a titular archbishop of Giufi in present-day Tunisia.