In the mid-16th century, Chiprovtsi began to attract the attention of Catholic officials from Rome. In 1565, the archbishop of Antivari (today Bar, Montenegro) Ambrosius arrived in the town as an apostolic visitor. In 1592–1595, the Bosnian Croat cleric Peter Solinat and a group of Franciscans established a Catholic mission in the town. In 1601, Solinat was appointed bishop of Sofia with his seat in Chiprovtsi by Pope Clement VIII. He chose to reside in Chiprovtsi because Sofia's Catholic population was limited to a handful of Ragusan merchant families.