Thirty-two years after the crime in which 77 people were killed and one Croatian village was completely destroyed, the Bishop of Banja Luka, Msgr. Željko Majić, on July 25th, in the branch church of St. Peter and Paul in Briševo in the parish of Stara Rijeka, celebrated the Holy Mass for the dead.
In the concelebration, together with the local parish priest, Rev. Zlatko Matić, there were also two Višaticki brothers: Karlo, the newly appointed vicar general of the Banja Luka diocese, and Adolf, the parish priest of Sasina, and Rev. Marijan Stojanović, parish priest of Budžak parish in Banja Luka.
About 200 believers participated in the Eucharist, among them Davor Pranjić, vice-president of the Republic of Srpska from the Croatian people, Zoran Piličić, consul general of the Republic of Croatia in Banja Luka, Mirko Pandža, representative of the People’s Council of the Parliament of the RS, and officers and soldiers of the Croatian component of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The flame of love
In his sermon, Bishop Majić spoke about the importance of remembering the innocent victims and their witnessed deaths, and about the importance of forgiveness and prayer for the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
“With a great sense of the sanctity of this ground, soaked in the blood of so many innocent people from Briševo, I come to this holy ground today as your bishop to pray together with you to God for mercy for the souls of our dear grandparents, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. The truth is, the fire that took place on those summer days, July 24th and 25th, 1992, engulfed this village, which usually woke up in the morning with the singing of birds, the occasional barking of dogs, when the elders were doing their usual chores around the house or in the gardens, and the cattle were grazing or watering cans, and the children’s sleepy eyes were opened by the smell of freshly baked bread and warm ‘divka’, was not at all a miraculous sight. It was a terrifying crime that claimed so many lives, when everyone was killed and raped at random, and all property was burned. In the books, on the monuments and on the crosses above the burial grounds, we read 77 names of the people of Briševo who were killed from childhood to old age”, said Bishop Majić in his sermon, reminding us that “although in front of us is a sad picture of the consequences of destruction, we approach this place engulfed in the flame of love which, thank God, has not been extinguished even after 32 years”.
“The flame of love for the innocent killed, the flame that kills in us every feeling of hatred and desire for revenge; the flame of gratitude to the good God who saw the plight of his people, who knows everything and who, we firmly believe, accepted the sacrifice of his people; the God of truth and of justice before whom everyone will stand and those who thought they were all-powerful in their violence ‘will not be left a root or a branch’, and those who in fire, torment and blood purified their lives, feared God, will shine as ‘the sun of justice'”, said Msgr. Željko.
There was no media
Before the Holy Mass, representatives of the civil and military authorities laid wreaths, and at the end of the Eucharist, all the names of the victims were read in front of the cross, which was erected in front of the church. Bishop Majić prayed a funeral prayer for all the deceased.
The Association of Briševo people, which organized everything, also organized a reception for all those present.
“The crime happened and it is irreversible, but it remains our duty to remember our martyrs and pray for the peace of their souls and for all the surviving relatives not to forget their dead and to ask the Lord for the strength of forgiveness,” said Msgr. Višaticki, adding that 32 years ago, the press did not report anything about this crime, and that even on this anniversary, there was no representative of the “seventh force” to report on this event – a crime crying out to God, and he wondered what the reason was.
Since the restart of our newspapers in 2002, the editorial staff of Katolički tjednik has treated the crime in Briševo journalistically on the occasion of each anniversary of the massacre. Briševo was on the front page of the newspaper four times, one reportage was made, one journalistic piece was filmed, two interviews were conducted with witnesses to the crime, four editorials, 11 reports, seven news were written, while in the culture section there were two presentations of a book about Briševo.
In order not to forget this terrible crime at least for a short time, this time we recommend to your attention an interview from 2017 with Fran Piplović, co-author of the book Martyrs of Briševo and a report from the pen of Josip Vričko from 2020 entitled Martyrs of Briševo still waiting for justice.
KT
