Don Mario Zelanović is the parish priest of Dol on Hvar, known among church goers as a spiritual father and among others as an established olive oil maker. Which is no wonder with his 330 olive trees in the fields of Norat and Sestrinska Starina
During harvest days he is aided by local parish members, friends and many others, sometimes over a 100 people in a single day. The king of olive oil makers among priests spent part of his summer in Žrnovnica, holding Holy Mass during the town day celebrations of Assumption of Mary with local priest Mario Matković. It was a month after the catastrophic fire in Žrnovnica where nature, olives, orchards, vehicles burned up, Dalmacija Danas reported on December 14, 2017.
Don Zelanović promised Žrnovnica residents then that by the end of the year he would donate at least 100 litres of olive oil. This year drought struck Dalmatia, including olives, otherwise the donation would have been more abundant. The Hvar priest fulfilled his promise this December, oil arrives to the Žrnovnica parish home, and don Mario Matković will give out oil to the needy of his parish during the Christmas holidays.
It is lovely to see don Mario recalled his own promise he gave to Žrnovnica this summer, and it would be nice to see at least the realisation of some of the many promises made by local and state politicians to Žrnovnica after the fire, the same Žrnovnica which now consumes technical water and is without sewage.
Translated from Dalmacija Danas.
