Marija Petković

On October 4, 1920, the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, Marija Petković officially founded the congregation of the Daughters of Mercy of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis, taking the religious name Marija of Jesus Crucified. Under the impetus of Monsignor Josip Marcelić, this new community dedicated itself to the mission of spreading the love and mercy of God through concrete works of charity. The sisters quickly opened orphanages, domestic science schools, and clinics, first in Croatia, then in Serbia and Macedonia. In 1936, responding to the call of Croatian priests, the congregation sent its first missionaries to South America. Marija herself traveled there in 1940. Stranded in Argentina by the outbreak of the Second World War, she spent twelve fruitful years there, founding numerous communities in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Peru to care for abandoned children and the sick. In 1952, she transferred the general headquarters of the congregation to Rome, from where she continued to guide her spiritual daughters despite declining health.

The spiritual life of Marija Petković is deeply rooted in the mystery of the Cross and divine mercy. By choosing the name Marija of Jesus Crucified, she expressed her desire to unite her own sufferings with those of the Savior for the salvation of souls. Her spirituality, of Franciscan inspiration, is characterized by absolute evangelical poverty and total trust in divine Providence. She often repeated that if she possessed money, she would rely on it, but having nothing, she could place her trust in God alone. Her love for the poor was not mere philanthropy, but a mystical encounter with the suffering Christ, whom she strove to serve with immense maternal tenderness. Despite the trials, slanders, and material difficulties inherent in her foundations, she maintained heroic humility and obedience toward ecclesiastical authorities. In 1954, a stroke left her partially paralyzed, a trial she accepted with serenity, offering her sufferings for the Church and her congregation until her last breath.

The beatification process for Marija Petković officially opened in Rome at the end of the 1980s. Recognized as venerable on May 8, 1998, by Pope John Paul II, she was solemnly beatified by the same sovereign pontiff on June 6, 2003, in Dubrovnik, during his apostolic journey to Croatia. The miracle accepted for her beatification is quite singular and spectacular. On August 26, 1988, the Peruvian Navy submarine BAP Pacocha sank after a collision. As water rushed in and pressure of several tons blocked the hatch, the young officer Roger Cotrina Alvarado, having read the biography of Marija Petković, fervently invoked her. He then saw a brilliant light and felt an inexplicable physical force that allowed him to close the hatch against the water pressure, thus saving the lives of twenty-two sailors. The Vatican's scientific and theological investigations confirmed the humanly impossible nature of this act, attributing the salvation of the crew to the intercession of the Croatian nun. Her liturgical feast is set for July 9, the day of her birth into heaven.

Today, the work of Blessed Marija Petković continues to bear abundant fruit throughout the world. The congregation of the Daughters of Mercy includes hundreds of religious sisters spread across many countries in Europe, Latin America (notably in Argentina, Peru, and Chile), and Africa, where they dedicate themselves to the education of youth, the care of the sick, and the assistance of the elderly. In 1998, the mortal remains of the foundress were transferred from Rome to her native island of Korčula. They now rest in the crypt of the Chapel of Christ the King, within the motherhouse in Blato, which has become a national shrine and a place of pilgrimage frequently visited by the Croatian faithful. In 2005, the "Blažena Marija Petković" foundation was created in Zagreb to financially support the education of poor children and large families, thus concretely perpetuating the charism of charity and compassion bequeathed by this great figure of Croatian holiness.