Professional paper
Summary: The Bloody Christmas of 1920 in Baška
Josip Tomašić
Abstract
On Christmas Day in Baška on the island of Krk in 1920, one hundred years ago, the Italian occupation forces, the ‘Arditi’, demanded that the local priest, Kvirin Klement Bonefačić, celebrate mass in Latin instead of Old Church Slavonic, as had been the custom on the island for centuries, which he refused. After he began celebrating mass in Old Church Slavonic, an ardito began firing at him. The people rushed to the door and ran him down. The priest left the church and fled by boat to the mainland, to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later called Yugoslavia. The Arditi, on the other hand, killed three residents of Baška in retaliation, while a girl was an accidental casualty. That event was remembered as the ‘Bloody Christmas’. The occupiers loaded four Baška residents into a truck and took them to Krk, where they were subjected to mistreatment. Another ardito was accidentally killed during that truck ride, thus increasing the number of victims on the other side as well. There were a total of six victims. Bonefačić, the priest, remained in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and eventually became a bishop in Split. The article also contains a description of the simultaneous suffering of a detained priest, Mate Milovčić.
Keywords
Christmas 1920; Bloody Christmas; Baška; Kvirin Klement Bonefačić; Old Church Slavonic liturgy; Mate Milovčić; Arditi
Hrčak ID:
284388
URI
Publication date:
11.11.2021.
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