Family and formation
The Barbić family was among the most respected of Krtole, and it had already given the Church a martyr: Mihailo's great-uncle, Archpriest Sava Barbić of Dubrovnik, suffered during the First World War. Accounts of Mihailo's life record that this example drew him toward the priesthood from childhood.
He was educated at Krtole and then at Dubrovnik, Zadar and Sarajevo, lodging while at the gymnasium in Zadar with a priest uncle. He became fluent in several languages. Later members of the family, among them the teacher Vasilije Barbić and his son Đura Barbić, are remembered in the same district.
Priestly ministry
Fr Mihailo served first as parish priest at Morinj, then as a military chaplain at Podgorica and in Dalmatia, before returning to his native Krtole as its parish priest. Alongside parish work he taught religious education.
Metropolitan Gavrilo Dožić visited him and, as the account of his life puts it, blessed him as a father blesses his son. He initiated the restoration of the monastery of Prevlaka and took part in the celebration of the jubilee of the Church of the Holy Trinity.
During the wartime occupation he worked to calm the population of the district and to prevent bloodshed.
Arrest and martyrdom
Accusations raised against Fr Mihailo during the Second World War are held by the sources of his life to have been false, and they came in part from close acquaintances, from some of his own parishioners, and — by one account — from relatives. On the strength of them the new communist authorities arrested him.
He was bound and marched on foot through the village to the prison at Kotor, where he was severely tortured and put to death in 1945. Local tradition holds that he was strangled there and that his body was cast into a septic pit; it was afterwards removed to a place that remains unknown.
His wife and their four children endured persecution and public humiliation for decades after his death.
Relics & Shrines
No relics of Fr Mihailo are venerated. His body, by the local account, was thrown into a septic pit at the prison in Kotor and later taken away to an unknown location, so that the place of his burial is not known.
The church of St Nicholas in Kotor, standing at the place of his suffering, is where his canonization was celebrated.
Glorification
The communique of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which met at Belgrade from 13 to 17 May 2025, records that the Assembly joyfully accepted the recommendation of its Commission for Canonization and enrolled 'Priest Mihailo Barbić, parish priest of Krtole' among nine new saints of the Church of St Sava. The communique is a summary enumeration rather than a vita and gives no biographical detail. His feast was appointed for 9 January (Julian), that is 22 January of the civil calendar.
The rite of canonization was celebrated on 24 January 2026 at the church of St Nicholas in Kotor, with several metropolitans and bishops concelebrating. On that occasion a resident of Krtole, Vasko Kostić, testified publicly in order to refute the old accusations that had been made against the priest.
Around the canonization, the present parish priest of Krtole, Fr Marko Obradović, spoke of his predecessor's life and martyric death in broadcasts and published reflections.
