Ivan Merz

Blessed Ivan Merz was a Croatian lay academic, beatified by Pope John Paul II on a visit at Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 23, 2003. Ivan Merz promoted the liturgical movement in Croatia and together with Ivo Protulipac created a movement for the young people, The Croatian union of the Eagles , inspired by the Eucharistic Crusade, which he had encountered in France.

He was born from a liberal family, on December 16, 1896 in Banja Luka, when Bosnia was occupied by AustriaHungary. He attended school in the multiethnic and multireligious environment of his native town and graduated at the time when Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand was murdered . His mother was Jewish.

Source: Wikipedia