St. George is a Catholic church built on a small island near Perast. The island is popularly named the Island of the Dead, because there is a large cemetery where only famous Perastans were once buried. There is a Benedictine monastery from the 19th century and a small church dedicated to St. George.
There is a legend in Perast about Romeo and Juliet, two young people separated by death and reunited in afterlife. The story begins in 1813, when Boka Kotorska (not Perast) was under the occupation of Napoleon Bonaparte. Ante Slovic, a young soldier in Napoleon's army, was stationed on St. George Island. In Perast, he met a young girl Katica and they fell in love immediately. One day, Ante was ordered to throw a grenade at Perast from the island of St George. He fired the first and last grenade and Perast surrendered.
Happy that it all ended so quickly, Ante went to Perast to kiss his sweetheart, however, he found her dead. She was killed by a grenade used by Ante. After this unfortunate event, Ante left the army and asked the people of Perast to have Katica buried on the island. Ante became the eternal guardian of her grave. For the rest of his life he took after the grave of his loved one. The Perastans called him Fra Frane. Today it is possible to see two monuments side by side on the island of St George. On the first one you will see written Katica and on the other one Fra Frane.
The island has been leased by the Diocese of Subotica for the last 50 years and is therefore closed for the public for any visits, however if visitors ask the locals, they will gladly take them to the island and ask the Friars who reside there to briefly show them the interior.
Author of the text:
Marijana Niković licensed tourist guide for Montenegro.
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