Church with votive ships: St. Nicholas in Šibenik opens its doors to sailors (Photo gallery)

Saint Nicholas, their patron saint, is also celebrated by sailors. In the center of Šibenik in the 17th century, a church was built for him that opens its doors only a few times, and today's holiday is one of those occasions. In memory of all the sailors who disappeared in the blue expanse, a convoy of ships set sail.

It is a stone gem of Šibenik. It was built by caulkers and sailors. So that St. Nicholas could soften their hard seafaring bread. And today's masses were also attended by people from Šibenik with a "salty" work address.

“It is dedicated to sailors, and today is our day on which we pay homage to the saint, to protect our sailors, to protect our colleagues who bite that hard bread,” said Saša Jurat, secretary of the Association of Sea Captains and Officers of Šibenik.

The spiritual home of those for whom the sea is everything is "adorned" - with votive gifts, models of sailing ships. The church archive keeps around 30 of them.

“These are votive ships from Šibenik sailors who made a vow that if they remained calm at sea and no tragedy befell them, then out of gratitude to St. Nicholas, they would build a ship, have it built and donate it to the church,” explained Rafael Lovrić Caparin, sacristan of the church of St. Nicholas.

Šibenik remembered all the dead and missing sailors throughout the centuries of Croatian maritime tradition. A convoy of ships set sail for the 31st time. Wreaths were lowered into the sea to the sound of ship sirens.

“For their families, for them, let us remember. It is a huge number of sailors. Thank God, the vast majority always return, but a small number of sailors remain with the sea forever,” said Branko Skorić, president of the Šibenik Association of Sea Captains and Officers.

And seafaring is a very demanding calling.

“We come to the realization that sailors today, and this is absurd, are happy when they set sail from the port. They have all possible inspections, not to mention care, unloading or loading of cargo. So they are overloaded in the ports, and they spend very little time there,” claims Milko Kronja from the Croatian Seafarers' Union.

The "procession" remembered all the Šibenik seafarers who "beat" the world's seas. And there are, it was emphasized, about a thousand of them.

Source: HRT