Stanislav Nasadil

Saint Stanislav Nasadil
Born	20 October 1907 Lostice, Austrian Empire
Died	28 June 1941(1941-06-28) (aged 33) Jasenovac, Nazi Croatia
Venerated in	Serbian Orthodox Church Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
Canonized	1961 Serbian Orthodox Church 9 June 2019 Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia
Feast	20 June (In the Czech Republic and Slovakia) 17 July (Serbia)
Attributes	Martyr

Saint Stanislav Nasadil (Czech: Svatý Stanislav Nasadil, Slovak: Svätý Stanislav Nasadil, Serbian: Свети Станислав Насадил, romanized: Sveti Stanislaus Nasadil — 20 October 1907, Lostice - 28 June 1941, Jadovno concentration camp) was a Czech Serbian Orthodox Church priest, a martyr in World War II.

Life

Born on 20 October 1907 in Loštice, Austrian Empire as the son of the father František Nasadil and his mother Františka. He had four brothers. He first attended a national school and then a burgher school. In 1921 and 1922, the family renounced the Catholic faith, and in 1924 they joined the newly emerging Orthodox Church under the leadership of the Bishop Gorazda.

As a young man, he decided on a Christian vocation. Together with 14 students, he was sent to a seminary of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1923. He first studied in the seminar of St. Jan Theologian in Macedonian Bitole and in 1928 he finished his studies with a theological school-leaving examination in the seminary of St. Sava. Then he returned home and started working in the service of the church and also as a translator in Baťa's shoe factories in Zlín.

On 6 July 1931, he married Leopoldina b. Pestlová (Desanka) and the same year their son Dalibor called Stanko was born.

Between 1932 and 1933 he left for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On 11 March 1933 he was ordained a deacon bishop by the Diocese of Bac Irinej and a day later on jerej. After his ordination, he began working as an auxiliary priest in the parish of Stara Moravica belonging to the Diocese of Upper Carlovac. He then became a parish priest in Croatian Lička Jesenica in the church of St. the prophet Elijah.

In April 1941, Croatian and Bosnian territories were occupied by nazist Independent State of Croatia was established there, which was a puppet country of the Third Reich. This Ustasha state liquidated religious minorities (Orthodox Serbs, Roma, and Jews). On 23 May 1941 the Ustashas invaded the residence of the eparchial bishop Sáva in the village of Plaški. The bishop and the clergy present, including Father Stanislav, were identified as undesirable and were called to leave the country under threat of death. Those present decided to stay with their believers.

On 17 June 1941 Bishop Sava, Father Stanislav and other clergy and laity were arrested. Father Stanislav refused to defend Czechoslovak citizenship and dismiss his family. At the train station, he managed to write the name of the Gospić concentration camp on a piece of paper and threw it off the train. This way the family learned where they were transporting him. He was later transferred with Bishop Sava and others to the Jadovno concentration camp. Here the prisoners were tortured and eventually killed. Stanislav Nasadil was killed after torture on 28 June 1941, and his body was thrown into the Šaran pit, located about 1 km from the camp.

On 9 June 2019 Father Stanislav was canonized by the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. The service took place in Cyril and Methodius in Michalovce.