Martyr
Martyr Vukašin of Klepci (Mandrap)
? — 1943
Also known as: Вукашин Мандрап, Вукашин Ясеновацкий, Герцеговинский
Martyr Vukašin of Klepci — a Serbian layman tortured to death by the Ustaše at the Jasenovac concentration camp in 1943, praying calmly through his torture; glorified by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1998 and added to the ROC calendar in 2000.
Martyr Vukašin, from the old Serbian merchant family of Mandrap, was born in the village of Klepci on the eastern bank of the Neretva river in Herzegovina; he later worked in commerce in Sarajevo. When the Ustaše genocide against Serbs began in 1941, following the establishment of the fascist Independent State of Croatia, Vukašin fled Sarajevo; the Ustaše murdered his entire family before his eyes. He himself was captured and sent to the Jasenovac death camp.
In January 1943, the camp executioner Žilka Friganović subjected him to prolonged torture, repeatedly demanding he renounce Christ and cry out "Long live Ante Pavelić"; Vukašin instead prayed continuously, tradition holding he counted invisible rosary beads, and calmly told his tormentor, "Son, do your job." His unshaken faith under torture reportedly drove the executioner to a psychological breakdown; this episode became one of the most famous martyrdom accounts of the Jasenovac camp and is widely retold in Serbian hagiography.
He was canonized by decision of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church on May 22, 1998; the glorification ceremony was held May 22, 2000, at the Church of St. Sava at Vračar in Belgrade. By decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was added to the Russian Church's menologion on December 27, 2000.
His feast is kept on May 16/29.