Damjan Štrbac ( sr-Cyrl, Дамјан Штрбац, 19 February 1912 – 17 July 1941) was a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the populat ...

parish priest who was martyred by the

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...

. He was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Saint Damian of Grahovo ().

Biography

Štrbac was born in Plavno near

Knin Knin () is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka (Croatia), Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split, Croatia, Split. ...

. He attended Cetinje Seminary and finished it in 1932. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

on 17 March and a priest on 18 March 1934 in

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

. He served as

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

in Žegar and then in

Bosansko Grahovo Bosansko Grahovo ( sr-cyr, Босанско Грахово) is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Bosansko Grahovo in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in western ...

when the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started. At the end of May 1941, the

Italian army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

withdrew from Grahovo and its surroundings, and was replaced by an

unit, who immediately proceeded on 14 June 1941 to arrest citizens from the place and the surrounding area. Among them, Štrbac was arrested. He spent almost twenty days in the prison of the District Court in Bosansko Grahovo, and after that he was taken to

, and then to

Gospić Gospić () is a town in Lika, Croatia. It is the seat of the Lika-Senj County. Geography Gospić is located in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika. It is the administrative center of Lika-Senj County. Gospić is located n ...

, where he was held as a detainee with the identification number of 577. He was taken from the camp to the

Jadovno concentration camp The Jadovno concentration camp was a concentration and extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. Commanded by a member of the Ustaše Militia Juraj Rukavina, it was the first of twenty-six concentration cam ...

and where he was skinned alive by the Ustaše guards and then thrown into a pit. At the regular session of the Holy Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, on 20 May 2003, at the suggestion of Bishop Chrysostom of Bihać-Petrovac, he was included in the Council of Holy Hieromartyrs of the Church of God. His feast day is celebrated on . He is also commemorated on the first Saturday after Elijah's day ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strbac, Dajam Serbian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church 1941 deaths 20th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs New Martyrs People executed by the Independent State of Croatia People murdered in the Independent State of Croatia Yugoslav people who died in the Holocaust Serbian people who died in the Holocaust Deaths by edged and bladed weapons People who died in Jadovno concentration camp 1912 births