History of our place
Međugorje is a small village located in the south of Europe, on the
Balkan peninsula, southwest of Mostar in the commune of Čitluk. Currently, it is one of the most
famous and most visited Catholic pilgrimage centers.
The word Međugorje has a Slavic root
and means a place between the mountains. The village is located at an altitude of 200 m above
sea level and has a mild Mediterranean climate, with mild winters, warm summers, and heavy
rainfall in winter. Međugorje is surrounded by mountains that stop the Mediterranean air
currents. In the last forty years, this place has transformed from a sleepy village where the
inhabitants dabbled in farming, growing tobacco, vegetables and grapes, to a dynamic place of
religious worship, visited by many thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. Međugorje was
founded in 1892 and dedicated to the care of St. James - the patron saint of pilgrims.
On
June 24, 1981, in the parish, the Mother of God began to appear to six children, nowadays called
“seers”. The children were then 10 to 16 years old. Today they are adults, all have started
their own families. Three of them still have daily apparitions and three only once a year. The
seers are: Mirjana Dragićević-Soldo, Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez, Jakov Ćolo, Ivan Dragićević, Vicka
Ivankovic-Mijatović and Maria Pavlovic-Lunetti.
The Blessed Mother first appeared on
Mount Podbrdo, now known as Apparition Hill, located in the village of Bijakovići. She brought
messages of peace for the world through conversion of heart. Known as the “confessional of
the world” and described as “Heaven on Earth”, Međugorje has called millions of pilgrims from
all over the world to spiritual conversion; they have returned home forever changed.
In
one of her first visions, she said, "Peace, peace, peace - and only peace." She repeated it once
again: "Peace must reign between human and God, and also between people." Mary also calls us to
renew our faith on the path of personal conversion.
After all, faith is at the forefront
of human search. It is also an indispensable condition for the fulfilment of all prayers,
desires and aspirations.
The Mother of God, seeing human difficulties in achieving peace
and conversion, gives us the recipe of "five stones" to help us grow in faith and love of God
and neighbour. They are:
o Holy Mass,
o Heart Prayer,
o Holy Confession,
o
Fasting,
o Reading the Holy Bible
Here people experience extraordinary confessions,
graces of conversion, healing and transformation of life. Today, the Balkans attract pilgrims
from all over the world, tempting with the beauty of nature, jagged beaches, valuable monuments
or the phenomenon of Međugorje, which is visited by more and more people every year. So we
invite you…
Pilgrimages to Međugorje are unique and unforgettable events that leave a
trace in the lives of the participants...MEĐUGORJE - WHERE HEAVEN MEETS EARTH.
Parish Church
After the establishment of the parish in 1892, the first parish church
was impressive for those times, and its construction was completed in 1897. Due to the unstable
ground on which it was built, its walls soon began to crack and the building began to collapse.
So, right after the First World War, they started to think about building a new church. The work
lasted from 1934 to January 19, 1969, when the new church was consecrated. Church of St. James
is today the centre of sacramental and prayer life not only for parishioners, but also for
pilgrims. The fenced park, which was created on the roundabout, on the eastern side of the
sanctuary, reminds of the place where the former parish church was located.
The news
about the extraordinary events in Međugorje spreading louder and louder, meant that the local
church turned out to be too small to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims arriving. This problem
was solved by building a Field Altar in 1989, around which tens of thousands of pilgrims can
gather.
The answer to the needs of the growing number of believers was to create a
suitable place for the celebration of the sacrament of penance. In 1990, 25 confessionals were
built next to the church. Next to them, in the place where the faithful walk preparing for the
sacrament of penance, there is a bronze statue of the patron of confessors, Leopold Bogdan
Mandić, through whose intercession pilgrims pray for a good, sincere and cleansing confession
leading to a new and better life.
The new facilities created on the wave of the town's
growing fame include the large, spacious Chapel of Adoration. Holy Masses are celebrated here,
in various languages. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament takes place there. The chapel is a
place worth visiting to calm down and immerse yourself in personal prayer.
Behind the
Adoration Chapel is the Meeting House. Under this name there is a large, yellow building, used
by pilgrimage groups as a place of conferences, lectures and meetings with
visionaries.
Within the church area there is a statue of Our Lady of Peace, around which
pilgrims gather to ask or thank the Mother of God for the favours granted.
Apparition Mountain- Podbrdo
The place of the first apparitions of the Mother of God, a few hundred
meters above the hamlet of the village of Bijakovići called Podbrdo. Today this place is called
the mountain of revelations. A steep path leads from the houses to the very place of the
apparitions, along which in 1989 bronze bas-reliefs depicting the joyful and sorrowful mysteries
of the rosary (made by Prof. Carmela Puzzola) were placed.
On the way to the place of the
apparitions, a large wooden cross was placed, which marks the place where Our Lady, on the third
day of the apparitions, first called for peace through Marija Pavlović. In the place of the
apparitions, on the twentieth anniversary of the apparitions, a statue of the Queen of Peace was
erected, made according to the model that is located in front of the parish church (the work of
Dino Felicio). The meeting with Podbrdo is for pilgrims a meeting with the Mother of God thanks
to private prayer and rosary prayer.
In June 2002, bronze bas-reliefs depicting the
glorious mysteries of the Rosary (made by Prof. Carmela Puzzola) were placed along the path
leading from the place of apparitions towards the Blue Cross.
At the foot of the mountain
of apparitions is the Blue Cross placed there in 1985. The prayer group of one of the
visionaries, Ivan, has been meeting here regularly since July 4, 1982.
Cross Mountain - Križevac
Križevac (pronounced Kriżevac) is a hill rising above Međugorje (520
m), on which the parishioners erected a cross made of reinforced concrete, 8.56 m high, on March
15, 1934. On the cross there is an inscription: "Jesus Christ, Redeemer of the human race on a
sign of faith, love and hope, in memory of the 1900th anniversary of the Passion of Jesus. The
relics of the Cross of Jesus received for this occasion from Rome were embedded in the pedestal
of the cross.
Since then, Holy Mass has been celebrated on Križevac., on the first Sunday
after the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on honour of the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross.
According to the testimony of the visionaries, in the message of August 30,
1984, Our Lady said: "The cross was in God's plans when you built it."
From the beginning
of the apparitions of Our Lady on Križevac, the Stations of the Cross began to be recited. At
the beginning, the stations were marked with wooden crosses, and in 1988 bronze bas-reliefs (the
work of Prof. Carmela Puzzola) were placed there. On each of them (except for the prayer in the
garden of Gethsemane) there is a figure of the Mother of God.
For pilgrims, Križevac
means an invitation to meet Jesus in his Passion and discover his love. On November 24, 2001, on
the first anniversary of the death of Fr. Slavko Barbarić, a memorial was erected at the place
where he surrendered his soul into the hands of the Lord: a bronze relief of Fr. Slavko embedded
in stone. Between the two Stations of the Cross, it will remain as a sign and a memorial to a
man who said what he thought and did what he said, following the Gospel and the messages of the
Queen of Peace.
