Damjan Štrbac

Saint Damian of Grahovo Дамјан Граховски
Hieromartyr and New Martyr
Born	Damjan Štrbac ( 1912 -02-19)February 19, 1912 Plavno, near Knin
Died	( 1941 -07-17)July 17, 1941 Jadovno, Independent State of Croatia
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized	20 May 2003 by the Holy Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church

Damjan Štrbac (Serbian: Дамјан Штрбац, 19 February 1912 – 17 July 1941) was a Serbian Orthodox priest and martyr. He was canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Saint Damian of Grahovo (Serbian: Свети Дамјан Граховски).

Biography

Štrbac was born in Plavno near Knin. He finished seminary in Cetinje in 1932. He was ordained a deacon on 17 Marchand a priest on 18 March 1934 in Šibenik.

He served in Žegar and then in Bosansko Grahovo when the Second World War started.

At the end of May 1941, the Italian army withdrew from Grahovo and its surroundings, and was replaced by an Ustaše 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 Knin, and then to Gospić, where he was held as a detainee with the identification number of 577. He was taken from the camp to the Jadovno concentration camp 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, 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 memorial is celebrated on 31 May.