Hieromartyr Branko Dobrosavljevic
Church of Serbia – 7/5/18
Branko Dobrosavljevic was born in the village of Skadar near Vojnic on January 4, 1886. He completed Grammar school as well as the Seminary in Sremski Karlovci in 1908. He was ordained deacon on March 15, and presbyter on March 22, 1909. He performed his duties in the villages of Buvaca, Radovica and Veljun. Branko received St. Sava’s Order and Yugoslav Crown Order of the Fifth Degree. On the Feast of St. George, May 6, 1942, the very day of his own Slava Branko was arrested by the Ustase, headed by Ivan Sajfor from Veljun.
Over 500 Serbs were arrested that day, among them Dimitrije Skorupan, parish priest of Cvijanovic Brdo, and Nebojsa, priest Branko’s son. At first they were imprisoned in police station in Veljun, and next day (May 7) they were taken away and killed in the woods called “Kestenovac”, near Hrvatski Blagaj. The Ustase forced priest Branko to perform the service for the repose of the soul of the dead to his own son Branko, who was alive at the time. In 1946 priest Branko’s martyr relics and the remains of the other killed Serbs were transported to a common grave in Veljun. At the regular session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, priest Branko Dobrosavljevic was canonized and his name was entered into the List of Names of the Serbian Church Saints.
