A large number of faithful from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and other countries attended Sunday's commemoration of the anniversary of the suffering of the Drina Martyrs, the nuns who were tortured by Chetniks in 1941, and declared blessed in 2011 by the Pope.
Mass at the St. Dominic Parish was led by Archbishop of Vrhbosnia, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, and after the procession, the faithful walked down the streets of Gorazde up to the Husein ef. Djozo Elementary School, which once housed the barracks. The school now hosts a memorial commemorating the Drina martyrs.
Nuns Berchmana Leidenix from Austria, Jula Ivanisevic from Croatia, Krizina Bojnc and Antonija Fabjan from Slovenia and the Croat Marija Bernadet Banja of Hungarian descent, were captured by Chetnik forces in a monastery in Pale, near Sarajevo, in December 1941.
During their path to Gorazde, the eldest among them, Berchmana who was 76 at the time did not endure the difficult journey, and nuns Jula, Krizina, Antonija and Marija were detained in the then barracks.
During the night, Chetniks broke into their room so they could abuse them, and choosing between death and honour, the nuns jumped out the window. With their bones shattered, the Chetniks killed them with knives and threw their bodies into the Drina river.
Numerous faithful, representatives of the authorities of the Bosnia-Podrinje Canton and the City of Gorazde, and in the presence of representatives of the Islamic Community and the Serb Orthodox Church in Bosnia, laid flowers and lit candles at the site of their suffering which is near the memorial.
They also visited a room from the window of which five nuns jumped to their deaths.
The initiative to build a church in honour of Drina Martyrs in Gorazde has been in existence for several years. In it, the faithful, who visit the site of the suffering of the five nuns, could pray throughout the year.
Gorazde Mayor Muhamed Ramovic promised the site would be ready soon and was pleased that Gorazde proved to be a “proper host.”
