Marica Stanković: A life of faith, courage and service

“Long live Christ the King!” were the concluding words spoken in 1948 by Marica Stanković, who stood accused of crimes against the people and the state, in the District Court building in Zagreb.

The trial stemmed from a public statement she made at a 1945 gathering of Zagreb educators, shortly after the arrest of Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac.

All of Zagreb buzzed about her statement

“May I speak?” Marica asked—the only one among those present to do so.

“I protest, on behalf of the Catholic public, against the slander directed at the man who thundered from the pulpit against those who persecuted Jews and Orthodox Christians!”

All of Zagreb buzzed about her statement, while Marica herself was increasingly haunted by the premonition that she would be arrested.

A native of Zagreb, she completed teacher training college in 1920, the same year she became involved in the Croatian Catholic Movement. She was particularly impressed by a young lecturer, Dr. Ivan Merz.

Already deeply engaged in Catholic public life, Marica was encouraged and guided by Merz toward the social apostolate and later toward the establishment of a secular institute—a special form of consecrated life in which members live out their vocation in the secular world.

In 1930, she was elected president of the Grand Crusaders’ Sisterhood. Building on this foundation, the Congregation of the Collaborators of Christ the King, which remains active today, was established during a Crusaders’ course.

Alongside her dedicated work as a teacher, Marica frequently traveled, gave public lectures and courses, and met with young people in both rural and urban communities.

She enjoyed Stepinac’s full confidence

Marica enjoyed the full confidence of Zagreb Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac. In 1942, she was awarded the high papal distinction Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

Cardinal Franjo Kuharić would later write that, through her strong Christian personality, she had left a profound mark on the life of the Catholic Church among the Croatian people in the 20th century.

She left behind numerous notebooks filled with spiritual writings and a well-trodden Christian path on which she bore witness to her faith.

“We are entirely the work of God’s hands and so closely connected to Him that, even without our will or conscious desire, we always and continually stand before Him, and He is always and continually with us.

“All holy souls understood that call… that close bond that exists between God and His creation…”

Marica understood it as well as she listened to the verdict against her. She knew that the time had come for a profound maturation of her faith, when she would bear witness to what she had spent her life believing and living.

In doing so, she became ready for holiness.

Marica Stanković died in Zagreb on October 8, 1957, after serving a five-year prison sentence at the Požega Penitentiary.