Blessed John (+1503) and His Parents, Blessed Stephen (+1446) and Blessed Angelina, Princes of Serbia

Blessed John and his parents, Blessed Stephen and Blessed Angelina (15th century). The life of the Serbian ruler Stephen Branković and his family was full of the unexpected and of trials. In 1475 Stephen, the middle son of the then prince of Serbia, distinguished by his humility and deep learning in Holy Scripture, set out for the Turkish capital to visit his sister, who had been given in marriage to Sultan Murad; but when he learned that the Turks had burned the monastery of Mileševa with fanatical cruelty, he boldly rose to defend his homeland against the conquerors. After the saint married Angelina, daughter of an Albanian prince, the Ottomans threatened Stephen and his family with vengeance, and he was forced to flee with his wife and three children first to Albania and then to Italy, where he died. The blessed Angelina translated Saint Stephen’s incorrupt relics to Kupinovo. At the end of the fifteenth century the son of Saints Stephen and Angelina, the blessed John, became ruler of Serbia. Many miracles afterwards took place at the incorrupt relics of the righteous John and his parents.