March 27, 2021 - The American University of Penn State informed the American public about the results of cooperation between scientists from the University of Split and Penn State University, identifying the remains of the servant of the Mother of God Maria Krucifix Kozulić and her sister Teresa, 100 years after their death. 

"Penn State News", the official bulletin of one of the most influential and largest American public universities, included among the significant achievements of scientists of this university in 2020 the successful identification of the servant of the Mother of God Maria Krucifix Kozulić and her sister Teresa, which they achieved in the middle of 2020 with Croatian scientists under the leadership of prof.dr. Dragan Primorac and prof.dr. Mitchell Holland.

Dragan Primorac, postulator of the cause for the beatification of the servant of the Mother of God Marija Krucifix Kozulić, č.M. Dobroslava Mlakić, and Archbishop Ivan Devčić

As part of the beatification process of the Blessed Mother Mary Crucifix Kozulić (1852-1922), founder of the autochthonous Rijeka religious community of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in 2011, the community leaders decided to initiate the exhumation of skeletal remains from the tomb on Kozala in Rijeka. The exhumation of bone remains from the Kozala tomb began on December 20, 2011, when it was determined that 52 people were buried in the grave. Of that number, the remains of 35 people were in wooden coffins, while the remains of other people were mixed in seven bags. With the help of standard methods of forensic anthropology at the Clinical Institute of Pathology, Forensic Medicine and Cytology in Rijeka and then at the Clinical Institute of Pathology, Forensic Medicine and Cytology in Split, skeletal remains were selected and preparations for molecular analysis (nuclear and mitochondrial analysis) began.

The expert team for identification was attended by professor and D.Sc Dragan Primorac, Ph.D. D.Sc Alan Bosnar, Ph.D. D.Sc Šimun Anđelinović, Ph.D. Anja Petaros, Ph.D. Miran Čoklo, Associate Professor D.Sc Ivana Kružić, Associate Professor D.Sc Željana Bašić, and American colleagues Dr. Charla Marshall, Dr. Kimberly Sturk-Andreaggi, Dr. Erin M. Gorden, Dr. Jennifer Daniels-Higginbotham, Dr. Sidney Gaston Sanchez, and Dr. Timothy P. McMahon.

Servant Mother of God Maria Crucifix Kozulić and her sister Teresa were identified by analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) almost a hundred years after their death, in the middle of last year. As a result of the identification, a scientific paper entitled “A Forensic Genomics Approach for the Identification of Sister Marija Crucifiksa Kozulić” was published in the journal Genes. In Split, the postulator of the cause for the beatification of the Servant of the Mother of God Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić, MS Dobroslava Mlakić, was handed over by Prof. Dragan Ljutić, Ph.D., Rector of the University of Split, and colleagues from the University. After the handover of the body of the Servant of the Mother of God Marija Krucifix Kozulić and her sister Teresa, the Eucharistic celebration in Split was led by Monsignor Marin Barišić, Ph.D., Archbishop and Metropolitan of Split and Makarska.

Prof.dr. Dragan Primorac and Prof.dr. Mitchell Holland at Penn State University

On September 26, 2020, in the convent of the Society of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the earthly remains of the servant of the Mother of God Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić are buried, for whom the process of the proclamation as Blessed and Holy is currently underway.

The University of Split and Penn State University have been cooperating for many years, which was started by Dragan Primorac and Mitchell Holland, who have been cooperating in the field of identifying victims using DNA technology since 1993. Penn State University is one of the largest public universities in the United States with an annual budget of about $7 billion, and nearly 100,000 students study at the University.

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