THROUGHOUT THE CHURCH IN CROATIA Eleven Magnificent Statues of St. Michael the Archangel

THROUGHOUT THE CHURCH IN CROATIA For 11 centuries of the Croatian kingdom, 11 magnificent statues of St. Michael the Archangel

These days, Croatian believers are especially connected to Saint Michael the Archangel, the heavenly commander and the most famous warrior of God, who, in the service of the risen Christ, is tasked with finishing off Satan with a sword in the final battle. This angel – as long as he lives – is the guarantor of the victory of good over evil. However, since Satan, although defeated by Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, multiplies evil and continues to mortally wound humanity until the final reckoning at the end of time, there are those in the Church in every generation who invoke his protection in a special way. This was done by Popes Leo XIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, as well as saints such as the Capuchin Padre Pio or the Croatian Blessed Alojzije Stepinac.

Moreover, in some mysterious way, all those who spread the apostolate of the Archangel Michael seem to recruit multitudes of his admirers, who encourage him with their prayers in his endeavour, and he at the same time protects them on the path of life. At this historic moment, precisely at Easter time, during the Catholic Church’s jubilee year of 2025, and with the Church and the Croatian people immersed in the jubilee of 1100 years of the Croatian kingdom and the Split church councils, an initiative is taking place among the Croatian faithful that in a new way invokes the protection of St. Michael the Archangel – so that both the Church and the people may permanently survive in fidelity to God. In recent months, this initiative has already connected Croatian lay believers, religious and priests throughout Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the world, with a common goal: in the jubilee year, to place the present and future of the entire Croatian people and the Church within them under the protection of the Heavenly Commander. The lasting memorial to this alliance is not only the encouragement of prayer to spread, but also the donation of 11 large statues of St. Michael, three meters high and weighing four tons, which are to be placed under the open sky at 11 locations throughout Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a memorial to the 11 centuries of Croatian royalty.

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Blessed Alojzije Stepinac prayed to St. Michael every morning
Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, in addition to building the parish church and parish of St. Michael the Archangel in Zagreb’s Dubrava, had great devotion to the heavenly military leader. Stepinac’s words were reported in the Dnevnik by the Krašić parish priest Josip Vraneković in 1952:

“Looking at everything that is happening here and in the world, I am convinced that it is not happening without the special assistance of the devil. That is why every morning, as soon as I get up, I get dressed and the first thing I do is pray for the exorcism of Leo XIII. I have been doing this every day since the last war, when a German military priest warned me about it. He told me that he could not achieve anything with the children in religious education, because Hitlerism had corrupted them so much. They are restless, they shout, make noise, fight. ‘The second time before I came among them, I prayed for an exorcism. And surprisingly, they were as calm as sheep that time. Since then, I have prayed for an exorcism every time – and it was good.’ When that priest told me this, I have been praying for an exorcism every day since then. I only forgot it once in Lepoglava, and that was on the very morning that poor priest hanged himself. I recommend that you pray for it every day too!’

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The first four statues of St. Michael the Archangel arrived in Croatia on March 29th and have already been shipped to four locations in the north, east, west and south of the homeland, with which St. Michael has spiritually embraced Croatia. On the Croatian northern Adriatic, the first statue has arrived in the heart of Istria and has already been installed next to the Franciscan monastery in Pazin. The second statue has arrived in the western part of central Croatia, in the parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pokupsko. The east of the homeland will be in the shadow of the statue installed on the land of the Franciscan monastery of St. Peter and Paul in ancient Šarengrad, along the Danube River. The protection of the Croatian south will be symbolized by the statue that has arrived in the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Pločice near Konavle, where the blue of the sky meets the blue of the sea in a special way. The arrival of seven more statues is planned, four of which are to be installed on church lands in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and three in Croatia.

It is significant that just on the eve of the jubilee year, commemorating the Split church councils during the reign of King Tomislav, the initiative to place the Church in Croatia under the protection of St. Michael first arose among the laity, among the “warriors of Mary”. They have long been known in the Split region for their numerous apostolic and prayerful endeavors.

Chronological testimony
The best way to tell how the initiative was born is, in short, by chronology. The Warriors of Mary, led by Miljenko Jurić and catechist Darko Pejković, learned that a project to erect four statues on the four sides of their homeland had been launched in Poland. The fact that this vow was close to the heart of the Church there was confirmed by the Croatian priest, a Montfortian monk – a member of the Society of Mary, Fr. Nikola Tandara, now serving in Częstochowa, Poland. He gave additional impetus to the Warriors of Mary and encourages the entire initiative. The idea began to spread more and more among the faithful and found fertile ground among the volunteers of the Philip Neri Association and with their spiritual father, Prof. Dr. Josip Mužić, a professor at the Split Catholic University of the Catholic Church and the administrator of the ancient church of St. Philip Neri. Then the idea reached Glas Koncila, which is known to have played an important role in connecting the Croatian north and south in the celebrations of Croatian anniversaries to date during the 20th century. Taking over the media sponsorship of the venture was almost a duty for Glas Koncila, considering that the first issue of Glas Koncila in 1963 was dated September 29, the feast of the holy archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

The chronology continues. It was decided around the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2024 that the initiative would be launched immediately, that it was important for everyone involved to volunteer, with the faith that Providence would provide all the material resources.

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Holy Pope John Paul II called on St. Michael the Archangel

“to protect and defend the Holy Church in this time in which it is difficult to provide authentic Christian testimony without compromise and watering down”

Pope St. John Paul II, a great friend of the Croatian people, said this about St. Michael:

“He is the archangel (cf. Jude 1:9) who defends the inalienable rights of God. He is one of the heavenly princes, chosen to protect the people of God (cf. Dan 12:1) from whom the Savior will come. The new people of God are now the Church. That is why the Church considers him its protector and supporter in all the struggles for the defence and expansion of the kingdom of God on earth. True, ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,’ as the Lord guaranteed (Mt 16:18). But this does not mean that we are exempt from temptation and the struggle against the snares of the devil. In this struggle, the archangel Michael is with the Church to defend it from all the evils of the world, to help the faithful to resist the devil who ‘prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’ (1 Pet 5:8). This struggle against the devil, which characterizes the figure of the Archangel Michael, is still relevant today because the devil is still alive and active in the world” (Monte Gargano, Sunday, May 24, 1987). On that occasion, he warmly added: “Like many of my predecessors in the See of Peter, I too have come to this place to enjoy a moment of the atmosphere proper to this sanctuary, an atmosphere created by silence, prayer and penance; I have come to honour and invoke St. Michael the Archangel to protect and defend the Holy Church in this time in which it is difficult to offer an authentic Christian witness without compromise and compromise.”

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Carved in the Martyr Church
Providence first acted in such a way that the offers received from Croatian stonemason workshops for the creation of the statues were too high, which was quite discouraging. And just when it was thought that the idea could not be realized, a much more favourable offer came, from China. Did one have to go so far from Croatia to realize a homeland project, some wondered. But when it was learned that the local, Chinese master sculptor was a Catholic, that is, that Christians were involved in the production, there was no longer any doubt. At least Catholics in Croatia know well what it means to live the faith in the Martyr Church. In addition, when it was seen with what respect the Chinese master accepted to decorate the first four statues of St. Michael with Croatian braid, it gave everyone additional encouragement.

It was decided that the accounting infrastructure for collecting donations would be provided by the Association of Volunteers of St. Philip Neri, and the project would be coordinated by laypeople and priests, making decisions together. By then, some donations had already been collected through personal advertising among acquaintances, and in order to pay for and transport the statues to Croatia (which is a very high cost, but nowhere near the funds needed to make the statues in Croatia), the funds were partly borrowed, with certainty. The statues were completed around Christmas 2024 and set sail for Croatia by ship.

Although it was agreed that the project would not be publicized yet, the rumour that the statues of St. Michael were coming to Croatia could not be contained. The search for definitive locations followed. Two basic criteria had to be met: the land on which the statues would be placed must be church land, and the parish or religious community to which the statue is coming must accept it as a gift. This does not mean that the local faithful are prohibited from donating funds for the purchase of the statues. The goal is to place the statue there as a symbol for the entire Croatian region, and not just for the faithful who live in the narrow area adjacent to a particular parish or monastery. In other words, all those who donate to the statues are not doing so just for a single statue, but for all the statues together.

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INSPIRATION • Two Popes Support the Idea of the Statue
Among the exceptional moments where two popes appeared together – Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI – was the blessing of the newly erected statue of the Archangel Michael on July 5, 2013. in the Vatican Gardens, a few months after Francis was elected head of the Catholic Church. The event is all the more significant because it was initiated by Pope Benedict during his pontificate and carried out by Pope Francis. This act by the two successors of St. Peter was also the inspiration for the installation of statues of St. Michael the Archangel throughout the Church in Croatia.

»Michael – which means ‘Who is like God’ – is the defender of God’s primacy, his transcendence and his power. Michael fights to establish divine justice; protects God’s people from their enemies, and especially from the greatest enemy, the devil. And St. Michael conquers because God works in him. This sculpture reminds us that evil has been defeated, that the accuser has been exposed, his head crushed, because salvation has come once and for all through the blood of Christ. Although the devil always seeks to disfigure the face of angels and the face of man, God is stronger; his victory and salvation are offered to every man. In the journey of life and the trials of life, we are not alone, but we are accompanied and supported by the angels of God who offer us, so to speak, their wings to help us overcome so many dangers and fly high in relation to the realities that can burden our lives and drag us down. In dedicating the Vatican City State to St. Michael the Archangel, we ask him to protect us from the Evil One and to cast him out,” Pope Francis said at the time.

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The first four locations
In order to satisfy all the criteria, along with additional criteria such as those sometimes imposed by conservators or other (church) authorities, the first four locations were finally agreed upon, to which the statues were already delivered in early April: Pazin, Pokupsko, Šarengrad near Ilok and Pločice near Konavle, where Dubrovnik Bishop Roko Glasnović was also involved in the selection of the location. In Pazin, the statue has already arrived on its pedestal. The statues will soon also be placed on the other three pedestals, and then blessed.

Although the financial structure is completely closed for only two statues, in order not to deprive Providence of any of its strength and not to give up on trust in its work, the aforementioned seven new marble statues of St. Michael the Archangel were ordered from the same workshop, which are now looking for their locations in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In doing so, even the smallest contributions from ordinary believers, who have recognized themselves in the initiative and taken it to heart, are of great importance, and judging by the selfless response so far, there are more and more of them. They all feel that the eleven statues will be another lasting memorial to the 1,100th anniversary of the Croatian kingdom, and a sign of trust in the protection of the heavenly commander St. Michael the Archangel in the fight against the onslaught of evil on the Church and the Croatian people in the future.

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The prayer initiative of Pope Leo XIII.
Pope Leo XIII is the author of the famous prayer to the Archangel Michael (the ancients called it “The Exorcism of Pope Leo XIII”). It was written after Pope Leo XIII had a terrifying vision of a multitude of evil spirits, demons, over the Eternal City in 1886. Therefore, he composed a prayer for the defence of the Church against Satan and his infernal army. He ordered that priests and the faithful pray it after every low mass, which was in effect until the Second Vatican Council.

Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel“

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”

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Donations for statues:
Udruga volontera Filipa Nerija  (Philip Neri Volunteer Association)
Poljana Grgura Ninskoga 5, 21 000 Split
OIB: 15705015047
IBAN: HR9123400091511298458 (PBZ)
Contact persons:
Miljenko Jurić 091/5621280
Darko Pejković 098/9452776

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Video – For 11 centuries of the Croatian kingdom, 11 magnificent statues of St. Michael the Archangel

Izdvojeno – Hrvatska pod obranom sv. Mihaela Arkanđela

 

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