Jovan Stanojević

Holy New Martyr Jovan Stanojević was a protopresbyter-⁠stavrophor and deputy of the bishop, member of the Church Court of the Pakrac diocese, born on 6 January 1882 at Jakšić and killed in 1941 at Jadovno.

He finished the eight-⁠year gymnasium with the school-⁠leaving exam at Slavonska Požega in 1900 and the seminary at Sremski Karlovci in 1904. He was ordained immediately after finishing and named parish priest at Velika Bršljanica, where he remained until 1925. In 1911, while a parish priest, he completed the Law Faculty in Zagreb. From 1925 he served in the Church Court at Pakrac as a member, and later became deputy of the bishop.

He was arrested on 28 April 1941 at Pakrac by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia. He was first imprisoned in the district prison at Pakrac, then taken to the camp at Koprivnica, "Danica". At Koprivnica he was terribly tortured; a witness says he was blue from beatings and could barely move. From Koprivnica he was moved at night, on 1 August 1941, to the prison at Gospić, and from there, under heavy Ustaše guard, to Velebit, where he was killed and thrown into the pit at Jadovno.