Petar Perica, SJ (27 June 1881, in Kotišina near

Makarska Makarska () is a town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about southeast of Split (city), Split and northwest of Dubrovnik, in the Split-Dalmatia County. Makarska is a prominent regional tourist center, located on a horseshoe-shaped bay bet ...

– 25 October 1944, in Daksa) was a

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

ian Catholic priest and a member of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. He authored the hymns "Zdravo Djevo" and "Do nebesa nek se ori". He was born in 1881 in Kotišina near

. He finished elementary school in Makarska. He continued his education in 1895 in

Travnik Travnik ( cyrl, Травник) is a town and a municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the administrative center of the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, ...

. After Pope

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the A ...

consecrated the world to the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

in 1899, in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

an initiative was launched with the help of Perica intended to draw Croatian youth to dedicate themselves to the

. A brochure was released to this purpose, which included Perica's "Do nebesa nek se ori", which remains one of the most popular Croatian liturgical songs. In 1900, a Croatian pilgrimage to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

was held, during which Perica and Franjo Scholz gave to

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

an album containing the signatures of over 160,000 Croatian youth. In 1901 Perica became a Jesuit. Per 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 ...

Commissioner of Dubrovnik,

Ivo Rojnica Ivo Rojnica (20 August 1915 – 1 December 2007) was a Croatian Ustaše official and intelligence agent who was active in the World War II Axis powers, Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from 1941 to 1945. After th ...

, Perica assisted in the establishment of the

organization in Dubrovnik. In October 1944, Perica was murdered by

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

on the island of Daksa, near

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

. In 2010, a funeral was held and his remains were buried in 2010. In 2017, he was posthumously given City of Durbrovnik's lifetime achievement award by Dubrovnik City Council.Dobitnici Nagrade Grada Dubrovnika
''dubrovnik.hr''. City of Dubrovnik official website. Access date April 6, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perica, Petar 1881 births 1944 deaths Croatian civilians killed in World War II Croatian Jesuits People from Split-Dalmatia County Yugoslav Roman Catholic priests Burials at Boninovo Cemetery

See also

References