Kuća Gabrić
Kuća Gabrić
U starom dijelu grada Metkovića, poznatom kao Krnjesavac, nalazi se kuća obitelji Gabrić. Ona je jedan od brojnih primjera tradicijske stambene arhitekture sačuvane u ovom dijelu grada, ali je ipak zanimljiva zbog svoje veličine što pokazuje da su njezini vlasnici pripadali nešto imućnijem sloju društva. To je jednostavna višekatna kuća s ogradnim zidom koji je zatvarao dvorište ispred same kuće.
Kuća Gabrić ipak je danas najzanimljivija po tome što je u njoj 1915. godine rođen znameniti isusovački misionar otac Ante Gabrić. On napušta rodni grad već 1926. odlazeći u isusovačko sjemenište u Travnik, a nakon studija u Zagrebu i Italiji godine 1938. iz metkovske luke odlazi parobrodom u Indiju kako bi postao misionar. Zaređen je 1943. godine nakon čega se posvećuje misionarskom radu među muslimanima, hindusima i malobrojnim kršćanima, pomaže najsiromašnijima, osniva rižinu banku, gradi brojne škole, bolnice, kapelice, putove, kolibe, nasipe te misijsku postaju Maria Polli sa zdravstvenim, vjerskim i humanitarnim ustanovama. Posebno se istaknuo u pomoći hinduskim udovicama koje su bile na rubu siromaštva i indijskog kastinskog društva, a bio je blizak suradnik danas sv. Majke Terezije koja je zajedno s njim više puta posjetila Metković. Otac Ante Gabrić umro je 20. listopada 1988. godine i pokopan je u Maria Polliju sa šakom neretvanske zemlje i bočicom Jadranskog mora. Na dan 100. obljetnice njegova rođenja, 28. veljače 2015., otvoren je biskupijski postupak za proglašenje blaženim sluge Božjega o. Ante Gabrića
Gabrić House
In the old part of the town of Metković, known as Krnjesavac, there is the house of the Gabrić family. It is one of the numerous examples of traditional residential architecture preserved in this part of the town, but still interesting due to its size, which shows that its owners belonged to a somewhat wealthier social class. It is a simple house with multiple floors and a fence wall that closed in the yard in front of the house.
The Gabrić house is most interesting today because in 1915 father Ante Gabrić, a famous Jesuit missionary, was born there. He left his hometown in 1926 leaving for the Jesuit seminary in Travnik; after having completed studies in Zagreb and Italy in 1938, he left from the Metković port for India by steamship to become a missionary. Ordained in 1943, after which he devoted himself to missionary work among Muslims, Hindus and the few Christians, helping the poorest, he founded the rice bank, built numerous schools, hospitals, chapels, roads, cabins, embankments and the Maria Polli missionary station with health, religious and humanitarian institutions. He was particularly prominent in helping the Hindu widows who were on the verge of poverty and on the edges of the Indian caste system; he was also a close associate of the today St. Mother Theresa who, together with him, visited Metković several times. Father Ante Gabrić died on 20 October 1988 and was buried in Maria Polli with a handful of Neretva soil and a bottle of the Adriatic Sea. On the day of the 100th anniversary of his birth, 28 February 2015, a bishop’s procedure was launched to declare father Ante Gabrić the blessed Servant of God.