Udbina, September 5, 2003 (IKA) — Under the auspices of the Croatian Parliament and the Croatian Conference of Bishops, on Tuesday, September 9, there will be a commemoration of the 510th anniversary of the Battle of Krbavsko Polje at the Church of the Grave of St. Mark at Krbavsko Polje.

On September 9, 1493, at Krbavsko Polje, over 10,000 Croatian defenders lost their lives and the Croatian nobility was destroyed. This event is considered to be the greatest tragedy in Croatian history, that could have sealed the fate of the Croatian nation. On the contrary, after the Battle of Krbavsko Polje, the idea of an independent Croatian state began to take hold again among the members of the Croatian nation. The commemoration of this tragic event is intended to rescue its memory from oblivion, which until now has not been marked by so much as a commemorative plaque.

The commemoration will begin at 10 a.m. when all the participants in the celebration will assemble at the Church of the Grave of St. Mark in Udbina. At 11 a.m., a Mass will be concelebrated by the president of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Josip Bozanić, together with other bishops and priests. The archbishop of Rijeka, Ivan Devčić, will present the cornerstone for the Church the Croatian Martyrs that was blessed by Pope John Paul II on June 8 in Rijeka. The sermon will be delivered by the host bishop, Mile Bogović, and the Mass will be sung in the Old Slavic language by the Choir of the Baščina Friends of Glagolitism from Zagreb. The leader will carry the Krbava staff and the local bishop will carry the Krbava cross from the 13th century. Then the Croatian Hymn will be sung, to be followed by a program. After an address by the speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Zlatko Tomčić, Dr. Milan Kruhek will speak about the events on September 9, 1493 on Krbavsko Polje. Olga and Bojan Šober will perform selected operatic arias and compositions by Ivan pl. Zajc, Ljubo Kuntarić and Marija Radić. Bishop Mile Bogović of Gospić-Senj will speak about the project to construct the Church of the Croatian Martyrs in Udbina.

“So many lives were risked,” writes Bishop Mile Bogović of Gospić-Senj in the text for this commemoration, “in order to secure a peaceful and safe life for others. A visible sign of gratitude for the gift of their lives was left. . . . It seems that it is up to the present generation to repay this debt toward these victims, so that those who will come after us do not blame us for failing to do what we should have done,” emphasizes Bishop Bogović.

In the early morning hours of September 9, 1493, at Krbavsko Polje below Udbina, a battle began between the Croatian defenders and the Turks. The more numerous but far more poorly equipped and badly trained Croatian army that numbered 10,000, and according to some historians even 15,000, was gathered by Ban Derenčin and the Frankopans in order to prevent the Turks from returning to Bosnia after a looting campaign led by Jakub-Pasha, during which they reached as far as the Drava River between Ptuj and Varaždin, taking great spoils consisting of prisoners, livestock etc. The battle lasted from the morning to the afternoon hours. At the end of the battle, the Turkish forces prevailed. The main reason for the Turkish victory was that the Turks were much better armed, better trained and as seasoned warriors experienced in many such battles, while the Croatian army was assembled from all Croatian sides, poorly armed, with more patriotism than experience or cunning. The strategy employed by Jakub-Pasha was to conceal a numerous cavalry in the forest, which at the crucial moment was deployed into the military conflict, defeating the Croatian army that was mostly composed of infantry. The medieval tactics of knightly battle chosen by the Croatian Ban Derenčin at Krbavsko Polje were completely defeated. The Turkish victory was terrible and cruel. Many Croatian nobles, priests and monks perished in the battle. Prince Ivan Frankopan was killed and Nikola Frankopan was taken prisoner. Prince Karlo Krbavski and the young knight Juraj Vlatković perished. One of the most serious consequences of the Krbava defeat was the enormous loss of a large number of people, which was the beginning of the irreplaceable demographic impoverishment of southern Croatia.

Although the Krbava defeat was the beginning of the disintegration of the Croatian kingdom, the prophecy of the Venetian envoy A. Fabregues in a letter to Pope Alexander VI that “with this the homeland is finished” did not come to pass. Croatia pulled itself together and in a hundred years’ war against the Turkish conquerors survived on the geographical map of Europe, despite being “the remains of the remains of a formerly glorious kingdom.” For a full seventy years, the Croatian army successfully resisted the Turkish attacks and “as a tower and bulwark of Christianity,” as written to Christian Europe in a message and appeal for assistance from the Croatian nobility and its Parliament in Bihać, “with daily fighting defended Christian lands, as much as humanly possible.” Europe promised assistance and solidarity but that assistance often arrived too late and was never sufficient. Croats then understood that they would not survive if they did not organize their defense themselves. It was just at the time of the Battle of Krbavsko Polje that the idea developed of a Croatian state, as confirmed by the appearance of a Croatian coat-of-arms and flag. At the Parliament in Cetina on January 1, 1527, the Croatian nobility assumed full responsibility for the future Croatian kingdom.

The proposal for the commemoration of the anniversary of the Battle of Krbavsko Polje and the building of a memorial center and the Church of the Croatian Martyrs originated from the Gospić-Senj Diocese and Lika-Senj County. This idea is connected with the Pope’s message at the beginning of the third millennium, when he invited the entire Christian world to list their witnesses to the faith and their martyrs, as precious treasures to bring across the threshold of the millennium to future generations. These people were prepared to risk their lives for their neighbors, for their convictions and for their faith. The Pope most clearly expressed this message to the Croatian nation during his second visit to Croatia, when he beatified Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, witness and martyr, as a model for the Croatian people. On several occasions, the Pope reconfirmed this during his third visit to Croatia. From the Pope’s message and the commemoration of the Krbava tragedy came the idea for building a memorial center and church on the site of this tragedy, which would honor all known and unknown great figures throughout the Croatian territory who decisively and consistently bore witness with their lives to their love of God and mankind. The church will be built on the site where the Church of St. Nicholas stood in 1492. This place was chosen as the most suitable because it dominates the entire Krbavsko Polje region, and the church will be visible to all who travel from the Croatian north toward the Croatian south and vice versa. According to the plan, the upper part of the church would be a place of worship dedicated to all the Croatian martyrs that the Church has proclaimed officially. In the lower part (crypt), there would be a type of school of Croatian history, dedicated to those whom the Croatian nation has accepted as victims in the battle for their land and their freedom. It is planned that the path from the nearby Church of the Grave of St. Mark to the Church of the Croatian Martyrs will be marked by a Way of the Cross, taking into account the Way of the Cross traveled by our nation.

The implementation of this project relies principally on funding by the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Conference of Bishops, together with gifts from institutions and individuals from the homeland and other countries. A kuna giro account has been opened at the Erste & Steiermärkishe Bank: Gospićko-senjska biskupija, br. 2300007-1400400362 — za Crkvu hrvatskih mučenika (Gospič-Senj Diocese, No. 2300007-1400400362 — for the Church of the Croatian Martyrs), together with a foreign currency account at the same bank, br. 25003000-22-1505912 — za Crkvu hrvatskih mučenika (No. 25003000-22-1505912 — for the Church of the Croatian Martyrs