Drina Martyrs
| Blessed Martyrs of Drina | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Blessed Martyrs | |
| Born | Austria-Hungary |
| Died | Goražde, Independent State of Croatia |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 24 September 2011, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina by Cardinal Angelo Amato |
| Major shrine | Drina River, by the town of Goražde |
| Feast | 15 December |
| Attributes |
Dove Palm-leaf Nun-cloths |
| Patronage | Nuns, the sick, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina Hungary, Austria |
The Blessed Martyrs of Drina (Serbo-Croatian: Drinske mučenice) are the professed Sisters of the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity, who lost their lives during World War II. Four were killed when they jumped out of a window in Goražde on 15 December 1941, reportedly to avoid being raped by Chetniks, and the last was killed by the Chetniks in Sjetlina the following week. The five nuns were later declared martyrs and beatified by Pope Benedict XVI (delegated to Cardinal Angelo Amato) on 24 September 2011.
On 6 April 1941, Axis forces invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Poorly equipped and poorly trained, the Royal Yugoslav Army was quickly defeated. The country was then dismembered. The extreme Croat nationalist and fascist Ante Pavelić, who had been in exile in Benito Mussolini's Italy, was appointed Poglavnik (leader) of an Ustaše-led Croatian state – the Independent State of Croatia (often called the NDH, from the Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska). The NDH combined almost all of modern-day Croatia, all of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of modern-day Serbia into an "Italian-German quasi-protectorate." NDH authorities, led by the Ustaše militia, subsequently implemented genocidal policies against the Serb, Jewish and Romani population living within the borders of the new state.
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