In the 17th century the Croats have settled in Hungarian Danube region in the groups with different names (as Bunjevci, Šokci, Bošnjaci i Dalmatinci). Due to the multiple names, up today in some writings those groups are identified as splittergruppen, with unclear ethnic roots. Such interpretation of their ethnic identity is not taking into account the fact that from the first mention in the 17th century they shared the same culture, which represented the basis for the Croatian national integration. The Franciscans of the province of Bosnia Argentina have played an important role in that process. In Hungary the most important center of their work was monastery of St. Francis’s wounds in Buda. This work is showing how the Franciscan production of high culture influenced the process of shaping Croatian protonational identity in Hungarian Danube region during the 18th century.