70th ANNIVERSARY OF COMMUNIST EXECUTION OF HERZEGOVINIAN FRANCISCANS COMMEMORATED IN SIROKI BRIJEG

date: 08.02.2015.

The 5th Days of Murdered Herzegovinian Franciscans were held from February 4-7, 2015 in Siroki Brijeg, when we remembered 66 brutally murdered Franciscans who were killed during and after World War II. As every year, the programme was organised by Vice Postulator for beatification of martyrs “Fr. Leo Petrovic and 65 brothers”, Fr. Miljenko Stojic. On February 7, the day when Franciscans were killed in Siroki Brijeg, the programme began at 4 p.m. with the prayer close to war shelter. The members of YouFra lit 12 candles in the memory of 12 Franciscans who were burnt in this shelter. After that prayer, the procession moved towards the grave located in the church, where 24 brothers were buried. After the prayer, names of 66 priests were read and Holy Mass followed, celebrated by Bishop of Gospic and Senj, Fr. Mile Bogovic. As he spoke about the models that are placed before us, he said: “You will find in our churches images and statues that faithful are venerating. Those represent people we consider to be holy or beatified. Those are not just contemporary great characters, nor do they come from a certain time or space. They come from all over the world and from various centuries. What is in common to all of them is faithfulness to God and love towards the neighbour. They were all strong in faith and sensitive to the needs of their neighbours. Among them, there were no selfish people, regardless of the glory and power such people could have obtained. All saints were self giving. I am so glad to be here and to celebrate Holy Mass for martyrs from Siroki Brijeg and Herzegovinian Province. We should all be grateful to them for all they did.” (pobijeni.info)