A Priest Died During the Liturgy From a Wasp Sting - How Thin the Line We All Share Is

Priest Robert Emershich died during the holy liturgy in Planica, Slovenia, after an allergic reaction to a wasp sting. Death came, as his parish said, „like a bolt from the blue“ - at the moment he loved most, at the altar.

It happened on Sunday, 14 June, in the parish of Saint Joseph the Worker in Rache. Parishioners remember him as a man who „most gladly served“ the liturgy. From an ordinary wasp, everywhere around us in summer, to a fatal end in a few minutes - a reminder of how thin the line we all share is, and how rarely we think of it.

Allergies to wasp and bee stings aren't exotic; they strike even people who never had a strong reaction before. What is an unpleasant sting for most is, for a small number of people, an emergency that demands adrenaline within minutes. In the Balkans, where summer means a field, a yard and a table outdoors, this is a story that isn't as far away as it seems.

The parish held farewell services in Fram and Rache, and the priest was buried in Hoche. One ordinary summer scene - a liturgy, an open window, a wasp - ended in a way no one could have predicted.