Then, for twenty years or more he served as a military chaplain for Croatian soldiers in the Venetian army (Croati à cavallo, Cavalleria croata).

[3] He had come to reside in Verona but his duty included frequent travels in northern Italy, especially Venice.

It was due to such diligent work and sacrifices that he became renowned in Verona and by 1747 was one of the province's most revered priests.

[4] As a prominent patriot, he wrote about the difficult position of the Croats in the Republic of Venice in his texts, especially in the songs "Slava Dalmacije" (Glory of Dalmatia) and "Od naravi i ćudi arvacke" (From Croatian nature and temper).

Because of his work "Cvit razgovora naroda i jezika iliričkoga aliti arvackoga" (The Flower of Discourse among the Illyrian or Croatian People and Language) from 1747, in which he attacked the injustice and harmfulness of the Venetian administration in Dalmatia, Grabovac soon faced attacks from several people in Venice.