Gerard of St Stephen the King was born in the village of Đurđin in Bač to his parents Jose Stantić and Đula (Julije) Jagić. He was admitted to the Carmelites in Graz on 9th September 1896 and on 11 September 1897 made his religious vows. He studied theology and, after his studies, was ordained a priest in 1902.
He was the first Croatian, that is, the only one who could speak Croatian among the priests of the newly founded Carmelite monastery in Sombor (1904), which then belonged to the Carmelite Hungarian province.
In his work, Father Gerard Tomo Stantić was exemplary and zealous towards the members of all nations, both his Croatians, the Hungarians and Germans. As a priest, he proved exemplary in his work, in confession and in the care of the sick. He planned to bring the Carmelites to Croatia and Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac helped carry out his plan. Projects were interrupted by the Second World War, and the final realization of his project took place only after his death, in 1959, when the Carmelites arrived in Zagreb (Remete), where they founded a monastery in 1960, and later in Split and the island of Krk.
He died on June 24, 1956. His remains rest in the church of the Carmelite monastery of Sombor.
The diocesan inquiry on his "life, virtue and reputation for holiness" closed on September 21, 2003. On the 30th of November 2006 the decree of validity was granted.
