The
parish of Medjugorje is situated in Herzegovina, 25 km southwest
of Mostar. Medjugorje, (the name is of Slavic origin, and
signifies a region between two mounts) with the villages
of Bijakovici, Vionica, Miletina and ©urmanci, forms a Roman-Catholic
parish where today (in 2002) about 4000 inhabitants live.
The pastoral care of the parish is confided to the priests
of the Herzegovinian Franciscan Province of the Assumption
of Mary. The
whole region is inhabited by Croatians who received Christianity
13 centuries ago. In historical documents, the village was
mentioned in 1599for the first time. The present parish
was founded in 1892 and dedicated to St. James the Apostle,
protector of pilgrims. Until June 24, 1981, Medjugorje lived
like all other villages of this region: people worked on
their land, planted tobacco and vineyards, produced wine
and vegetables to acquire just enough for a modest life
for their families. Because of social circumstances, many
went out into the world: over the ocean and to Western European
countries, as well as into towns in Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Croatia.
Our Lady's Apparitions In 1981, when the apparitions started,
the life of the parish changed: Our Lady chose for her witnesses
and co-workers not only the six visionaries, but the entire
parish and its pilgrims. This was expressly told in the
following message: “I have chosen this parish in a special
way and I wish to lead it.” (March 1st, 1984)
On June 24th, 1981, at about 6 pm, six
young people - Ivanka Ivankovic, Mirjana Dragicevic, Vicka
Ivankovic, Ivan Dragicevic, Ivan Ivankovic and Milka Pavlovic,
saw on the hill called Crnica, several hundred meters above
the place called Podbrdo, a young woman with a child in
her arms, who gave them a sign with her hand to come nearer.
Surprised and scared, they did not approach her. The next
day, June 25th, 1981, at the same time, four of them: Ivanka
Ivankovic, Mirjana Dragicevic, Vicka Ivankovic and Ivan
Dragicevic, felt strongly drawn towards the place where
they had seen the person the day before which, they had
recognised as Our Lady. Marija Pavlovic and Jakov Colo joined
them. The group of Medjugorje visionaries
was formed.
They prayed and spoke with Our Lady. This is why June 25th
is celebrated as the Anniversary of the apparitions. According
to the testimony of the visionaries, from that day onwards,
they had daily apparitions, together or separately, wherever
they were. Milka Pavlovic and Ivan Ivankovic never saw Our
Lady again.
The third day of the apparitions, June 26th, 1981,
Our Lady gave the call to peace for the first time with
the words:
“Peace, peace, peace – and only peace! Peace must
reign between God and man and between men!”
Attracted by Our Lady’s apparitions and messages, people
– first the parishioners and then from other villages and
from all over the world – started to gather and pray. The
persecution of the visionaries, of their parents and relatives,
of the parishioners and priests, and even of the pilgrims
began immediately after the beginning of the apparitions.
The visionaries were taken for police investigations and
psychiatrical examinations, but it was always stated that
they were healthy. The same conclusion brought about further
examinations done in the following years.
Fr Jozo Zovko, pastor of Medjugorje at
that time, was arrested a month and a half after the first
apparition. Although innocent, he was condemned by a communist
court to three years and a half of prison.
Thanks to Our Lady’s apparitions, Medjugorje – a simple
village parish – became a place of gathering for a multitude
of pilgrims from the whole world (in the first 20 years,
more then 20 million), and one of the biggest prayer centres
in the world, comparable to Lourdes and Fatima. Innumerable
witnesses say that, precisely in this place, they have found
faith and peace.
According to the unanimous witness of the visionaries, Our
Lady gives them messages to be transmitted to the parish
and to the world. They mainly address
PEACE, FAITH, CONVERSION,
PRAYER AND FASTING.
The parishioners and the pilgrims have to become witnesses
of Our Lady’s apparitions and messages first, and then,
together with the visionaries, join her in the realisation
of the plan of the conversion of the world and its reconciliation
with God.At the end of 1982, Our Lady addressed herself
through inner locutions (locutio cordis) to two ten years
old girls, Jelena and Marijana Vasilj. Through their prayer
group, she gave - from 1983 to 1987 - counsel to the prayer
movement that was created from the very beginning of the
apparitions Our Lady's messages given in Medjugorje constitute
a specific school of peace, of prayer and of love.
